Camera for taking pix of fast-moving kids

[Anonymous]

We're in the market for a new camera because ours is too sensitive to movement and many of our shots of our two year old come out blurry. Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

The problem is your shutter speed. If you are using a point and shoot, your camera probably has a setting with a faster shutter speed.

[Anonymous]

As mentioned, shutter speed makes a difference. And many point and shoot cameras have image stabilization settings, sport settings, etc.

[Anonymous]

shutter speed should address blurriness, but to avoid shutter lag (when the picture takes a second later than you wanted to) you really need a (bigger more expensive) digital SLR.

[Anonymous]

I have a Sony cybershot, can't remember which version, but it was about $200-$250, I think. I like it pretty well but I do get a lot of blurry images. At least with digital I'm not wasting money when I dump them.

Anyway, I've found the sports setting to be of limited utility because you can't use a flash with it, and the few times I've used that setting indoors the shots have come out really dark, even darker than when I just used a normal setting without flash.

Using the continuous shooting mode seems to be the best bet for getting good shots. That's where you just hold down the button and it takes a shot every second or so. Start shooting just before LO seems ready to do something cute instead of trying to wait and capture the moment with a single shot.

Most of my problem is probably user error, since I see gorgeous shots online supposedly taken with point and shoots or even camera phones. What I really need to do is practice with the camera, but I've been saying that since I was pregnant and bought it and my skills haven't improved measurably. Recently I've been able to borrow a super-fancy camera and while it's fun to use, and the pictures do seem somewhat better, they still don't compare to the types of photos you'd see in an ad in a glossy magazine, for example. Again, user-error. A poor craftsman blames his tools.

So, don't know how much help that is, but Sony does seem to have a good product from the high-end to the lower-end consumer stuff.

[Anonymous]

I second the person who recommended getting a DSLR. There is no shutter lag and I can go "click click click" and get great pictures of my very active kids.

[sth]

Casio has a small digital camer that can take 30 pictures in 30 seconds on continuous shooting mode. It is great for capturing a fast moving kid. I just delete the pictures I don't want.

[Anonymous]

And...
slow shutter speed is because of low light, too low of ISO and/or too small aperature. So, you can reduce shutter speed by making having more lighting in the room. Open all the blinds, turn on all the lights, etc.

[Anonymous]

canon powershot 1200 series.... for a digital camera that is compact it is awesome!

[Anonymous]

OP here-- thanks! Our camera has a sport setting, which I thought was worthless, however after reading these posts, I realised I've been using it wrong. It seems like using the sports setting should solve the problem. I'm going to experiment with that tomorrow and see if I notice a difference.

[Anonymous]

there is probably also a children and pets setting that may be even better than the sports setting. i can't recall the specifics, but some of the other settings make it more conducive to kid pics than the sports setting. On my cannon and my nikon, it looks like a kid on the presets dial.

[Anonymous]

you really want a dslr, it's the only true way to avoid shutter speed lag. the cannon rebel is pretty easy to use, it's more expensive than a point-and-shoot but it will solve the problem.

[Anonymous]

If you aren't going to spend the $$ on slr, or want to keep the thing in your pocket, try the sports setting.

If you really want sports pics, you need the SLR and a big-ass lens.