I鈥檓 looking for a compact digital camera that will take decent action shots. Doesn鈥檛 have to be too fancy, I鈥檓 just trying to reduce some of the blur I get with my current point and shoot camera. I realize an SLR would be best for this, but my goal is to be able to easily carry it in my purse when I go to a soccer or hockey game. Quality doesn鈥檛 have to be perfect, but some models have to be better in this area than others, right? I鈥檓 just looking for the best I can get in a compact camera.
Has anyone had any luck with a compact camera for action shots that they can recommend a model? My preference would be Sony, but I鈥檓 open to trying a new brand. Having the right camera like an SLR really helps, but if you are using a point and shoot then its difficult but not impossible to use it for action photography. You need to get a camera that has manual focusing mode. Some P&S camera provide this feature. Also you must use proper technique. There are several things you need to consider: shutter speed, shutter lag, panning,
The technique is to set your own shutter speed instead of using the auto program mode, which enables the camera to automatically adjust the settings. Normally you should use the a high shutter speed. This will vary for different circumstances but a good starting point is nothing slower than 1/125sec. Having a fast shutter speed means you can freeze the action.
With shutter lag, it is the delay when you press the button to take the picture but the camera waits a bit to focus, and then after a second it snaps the picture. You can minimize this significantly by prefocusing using the manual focus. Just determine the distance away your subject is and prefocus on a point. You should also increase your aperture slightly to give you more room for error should you prefocus to a spot closer or farther than the subject.
Finally it helps to be able to pan with the direction of the action. For instance if you are photographing a bike race, you know the direction of the riders are going to go, so you would just move the camera horizontally in a panning motion as you click the shutter button. This enables you to track the motion and keep the subject from being a blur in the photo.
I've used a basic p&s camera to take action and sports photography, and by using the techniques above I was able to get results that are very acceptable. It just is a bit of work, lots of trial and error, and some luck. However, the reward of seeing a great picture you've taken using an inexpensive camera is worth it. The choices of cameras are endless. But just keep this in mind, for a camera do take those kind of photo's it must be 6 to 7 MP, high shutter speed, 400 ISO, and a setting called motion mode, it takes the picture faster to minimize blur. Good luck! also, look for a camera in the mid range section. Those will even fit in your pocket! my suggestion
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the guide should answer your questions Unfortunately there are no point and shoot cameras that do not suffer from shutter lag, no matter how small. Action shots are still the domain of rangefinder & SLR and DSLR cameras.
I am sure you have already tried using the method of pressing the shutter release part way down until the exact moment you want to shot so the focus portion of the exposure does not retard the shot. There really isn't much else you can do but save your pennies and get a DSLR at some point.
I feel for you having all those Memory Sticks and maybe needing to change over to SD cards. i have a canon powershot 540.......you need to be able to adjust the apperature and shutter speed for action photos..... the powershot 540 and higher have this... go to dpreview.com for full reviews of cameras. Any of the cheaper ones from kodak work fine! | 