How good are the pictures when it comes to fast action sports? My son plays Water Polo and I'm looking for a camera that will take really good, up close sports shots. This Canon seems to fit the bill (especially with the burst mode and 10x zoom) but I'm not seeing a lot of reviews when it come to shooting fast action sporting events outdoors. If anyone has any advice they can give me on this particular feature, I would really appreciate it. Thanks! How good are the pictures when it comes to fast action sports? My son plays Water Polo and I'm looking for a camera that will take really good, up close sports shots. This Canon seems to fit... » Read More How good are the pictures when it comes to fast action sports? My son plays Water Polo and I'm looking for a camera that will take really good, up close sports shots. This Canon seems to fit the bill (especially with the burst mode and 10x zoom) but I'm not seeing a lot of reviews when it come to shooting fast action sporting events outdoors. If anyone has any advice they can give me on this particular feature, I would really appreciate it. Thanks! « Show Less
317514
Thanks so much for the info Zoe - I did end up ordering it and now I'm really glad I did!
317515
That feature is amazing. Place the camera setting on SCN and use "Action Sport Setting". Pics are unbelievable! This camera is a amazing. I strongly recommend it!
1334101
hello!!! it has the sport setting from the scene mode. faster shutter speed is selected to freeze the action. recommended when taking pictures in bright daylight. and it also has auto focus tracking for moving subjects. this is a nice camera , I highly recommend it. and if You buy it from amazon.com they have a very good return policy, so maybe You can give it a try.
682869
I use it for sports, it is a great buy for one who both knows his/her camera an loves there work. It is a full metal body so it can take a good beating...Just know it won't work in P mode with a Canon 200Ex Speedlight
1163843
Also not familiar with the FT5. I did a lot of research before I bought the Olympus. I have been very happy with this camera. We have taken it to the Caribbean twice and used it extensively in fresh and salt water without any leakage of water. The pictures are great, and the modes available for underwater and beach scenes are amazing and far better than other more expensive cameras that I have. I have also used the camera in extreme cold while skiing and have had great success with no problems with either video or still pictures. One of the best purchases I have ever made. Sorry I can't help with the direct comparison to the Panasonic. Also not familiar with the FT5. I did a lot of research before I bought the Olympus. I have been very happy with this camera. We have taken it to the Caribbean twice and used it extensively in fresh and salt water without any leakage of water. The pictures are great, and the modes available for underwater and beach scenes are amazing and far better than other more expensive cameras that I have. I have also used the camera in extreme cold while skiing and have had great success with no problems with either video or still pictures. One of the best purchases I have ever made. Sorry I can't... » Read More Also not familiar with the FT5. I did a lot of research before I bought the Olympus. I have been very happy with this camera. We have taken it to the Caribbean twice and used it extensively in fresh and salt water without any leakage of water. The pictures are great, and the modes available for underwater and beach scenes are amazing and far better than other more expensive cameras that I have. I have also used the camera in extreme cold while skiing and have had great success with no problems with either video or still pictures. One of the best purchases I have ever made. Sorry I can't help with the direct comparison to the Panasonic. « Show Less
1138815
Yes, the zoom and picture quality are great features to have when shooting sports photography. It also has a feature where the camera anticipates the photograph to eliminate blur. I've used it for basketball and bowling (in low-light conditions) and it works great.
1508370
I am partial to Canon and am excited to see they are introducing a model in the rugged, waterproof class. I previously used the first generation waterproof Olympus Stylus and after it broke moved to the Pentax Optio W series. It has been a good camera as far as durability, but it just doesn't produce photos like our Canon Powershot SD1000. As far as the post question, I can't wait to see some product reviews/comparisons. Based on my previous experience with the Stylus line, I am ruling out the Olympus. Although right now I am leaning towards the Canon based on previous experience with their products and superior photos. However, the Panasonic offering higher video quality in HD format is enticing.
1384070
This camera does a great job with action shots. I can photograph my grandsons jumping into the swing pool and stop the action as they are entering the was the water including the splash. I have taken water fall pictures and you can stop the water drops in motion. As far a s low light I think the camera will work well with the flash attachment that goes on the hot shoe on top of the camera. I have done ok in low light setting without a flash, but I would need to know more about what you trying to do in low light. Here again you have to keep in mind that this is $300 camera and it will not preform like a $1,000 Cannon. But for $300 it does a great job. The stop action on this camera is incredible. This camera does a great job with action shots. I can photograph my grandsons jumping into the swing pool and stop the action as they are entering the was the water including the splash. I have taken water fall pictures and you can stop the water drops in motion. As far a s low light I think the camera will work well with the flash attachment that goes on the hot shoe on top of the camera. I have done ok in low light setting without a flash, but I would need to know more about what you trying to do in low light. Here again you have to keep in mind that this is $300 camera and it will not... » Read More This camera does a great job with action shots. I can photograph my grandsons jumping into the swing pool and stop the action as they are entering the was the water including the splash. I have taken water fall pictures and you can stop the water drops in motion. As far a s low light I think the camera will work well with the flash attachment that goes on the hot shoe on top of the camera. I have done ok in low light setting without a flash, but I would need to know more about what you trying to do in low light. Here again you have to keep in mind that this is $300 camera and it will not preform like a $1,000 Cannon. But for $300 it does a great job. The stop action on this camera is incredible. « Show Less
1820223
Just purchased the Canon SX40. It is truly amazing. There are not too many boats out on the ice right now, but I think it will do what I want. The picture quality is fantastic. Shortcomings? Since I'm a newbie I don't understand why some pics are blurry and others not; but that is probably more my inexperience than the camera. Also, it shoots 1080 video only at 24 fps. This is still pretty good, but there are some situations where a moving video is less crisp. But I could always switch to non HD if I choose, and have 30 fps that way. Thanks for your help.
1134401
This camera comes with decent 5X zoom. But a problem with this camera is that there is some time lag between you click shutter button and actual image is collected. Therefore, I don't recommend this camera for action pictures. This camera comes with good water proof and shock proof. If that's the main reason for buying a new camera, this camera is recommended. Your daughter needs some practice for action pictures before she goes Africa. If picture quality is priority, I would recommend Cannon EOS M for picture quality and relatively smaller size.
1418537
So glad I found this post as I'm in the same boat and just printed out the specs on both cameras. I'm curious as to which camera you ended up getting and how you like it? My original intent was to upgrade from my Canon Powershot due to a long lag time in between being able to shoot the next picture now that my kids are in sports, but I would still like clear nice pictures. What did you get and how do you like it?
2046156
I see your post from a few weeks back. Great question. Have you made a purchase yet? I am also seeking a quality camera for indoor sports events without flash.
106672
there is a selectable scale of continuous shooting speeds, from 1fps over the duration of 30s (or it will stop sooner if you release the shutter button), up to 40fps within 1s. Your choices are 1fps, 3fps, 5fps, 7fps, 10fps, 15fps, 30fps, and 40fps. I think a lot of people who like photographing sports would disagree with your statement about the utility of 40fps, even with the 30 picture cap. I'm also surprised you think the Sony has a better feature set. I think you'd get more regular use out of longer battery life, slow motion video, and shutter/aperture priority modes than you would out of optical video zoom and panarama shooting.
392883
Hi, Douglas! I saw what you discussed about the lances and the whole camera and I want to ask you if you have any experiance with Nikon Coolpix 5700 (I have that one) and how is it against Canon DigitalRebel XT? Is it much more I'll "earn" if I switch to Canon? Thank you in advance!Ivan Hristov, Houston, TX
2239181
Hi Lisa, I took pictures at an indoor water park. The pictures came out okay. I just scrapbook the pictures, I don't typically blow them up to 5x7 or 8x10. So, for my use the pictures are fine. The fast movements were a little blurry. I have not taken any underwater pictures yet. I took the camera outside for our school snow days. Those pictures in the sunlight were bright and colorful. The fast movements came out okay. I have a few inside pictures during the day and they look pretty good. I have one picture taken at night in my bedroom. My navy blue shirt looks great, but my face is a little orange/yellow and the bedroom in the background is not crisp at all. I think the lighting is responsible for that. I have a few movies on the camera, but can't play them. They are MOV. I tried Quicktime, movie maker, media player. I'll have to play around with it. I hope I don't have to convert these. So, at the moment I can't give you any information on the movies. I wanted the camera to take out to the pool and so far it seems like it will work great for our use. Please let me know if I can help with any else. I'm not sure what you mean by artifacts. I don't think graininess is an issue, but I'm just a mom taking pictures of kids and my photography knowledge is limited.
833576
You would need to use the flash no matter what camera you purchase for action and sports shots to stop the action. You would also need to be close enough to the subject for the flash to do it's job. So it's more of a technique than being camera model dependent. This is a lot to ask for a point and shoot, you may want to look into a professional setup if you are really serious. Otherwise this is a great little camera for the money. Good luck!
651811
It does pretty good action shots. I've done some of my people jumping into the pool, my dog chasing ball, and my dog swimming. Just make sure you get the nikon 1 j2 or j3 series because because I owned the j1 first and it takes horrible action pictures. Hope this helps.
512313
I have this camera. It is the second best camera I have ever had (the best was a video-camera combo by Canon - lot more expensive),but this camera take great photos of pets, kids, evening, indoors, night - no problem anywhere and the memory card is removable so you can get unlimited Gigs of a good photo memory card.I was very happy to see that Canon still makes these, however, the selling price is the same today as I paid for this camera over 5 years ago so I would have concerns about the repair (if needed) if they d/c this model.