I know basically nothing about photgraphy, but I want to buy a digital camera that will be used to take outdoor action pictures. From what I have read, the variable ISO capability will be an important feature for this. Is there anything else that I should look for in order to take action shots?

Thanks! -- Liza

-- Liza Klosterman (gatorpoo@mediaone.net), November 14, 1999

Answers

For action pictures, you want a fast shutter speed. In order to get this, you need two things: Sensitive 'film' (high ISO setting), a 'Fast' lens (large aperture opening) and (ok, 3) the ability to control these. I picked the Epson 850 cause it had all these; shutter priority (or more automated 'sports program') variable ISO, and f2.0 lens. The Toshiba PDR M5 fell short with an f3.5 lens and no control of shutter speed. The Oly 2020 and Nikon 950 would probably be good choices too. Sometimes I find a better way to go about it is to use aperture mode; set to largest possible, max out the ISO and hope the shutter goes fast enough to stop the action. An example of this is the surfer sunset shot in my photoalbum: http://members2.clubphoto.com/john199182/ It's not the best shot ever, but the best I could do at the time. Good luck! P.S. I saw your other post about black dog; that is a very difficult subject; had a hard time with our black dog, I'll try to get one posted.

-- John Hoffman (johnhoff@incom.net), November 14, 1999.

One thing that comes to mind when you mention "action" shots. Its the ability to rapidly take pictures with in a short span of time. I know there are at least 2 cameras that do this by storing the images in memory. However, I can only think of one camera that does this, The Olympus D620L. The pictures are at 640x480 resolution though.

Dave

-- David Erskine (davide@netquest.com), November 16, 1999.

Now I am confused. I thought that in order to take "action" shots you just needed the ability to set a "fast" shutter speed, i.e. high ISO and large aperture setting. What does being able to rapidly take pictures in a short amount of time have to do with it?

-- Liza

-- Liza Klosterman (gatorpoo@mediaone.net), November 16, 1999.

When the most people hear the term 'action shots' they think of things like football games, where a film photographer would use a motor drive to crank off 10 frames in the hopes of getting a good one of the pass reciever in mid air. With digital cameras it's a different ball game (pardon the pun). First there's shutter lag; you have to press the shutter as the guy jumps to hope to catch him in mid air. Next is processing time. Even a fast digicam will take almost a second to take the next picture, and by then he's back on the ground. So they aren't the best at this, but if you work within the limitations, you can still get some good shots. Good luck!

-- John Hoffman (johnhoff@incom.net), November 16, 1999.