I am looking to buy a digital camera that has zoom with a fast shutter lag time. We have horses and take a lot of action shots, and would like to point and shoot in zoom. At the same time would like to learn to use some manual controls. Have been reviewing the Olympus C2020, D460Z and the Fuji 4700. But just don't know what model and mfg. would be the best.

-- Sharon Englesby (SEnglesby@aol.com), July 22, 2000

Answers

The Olympus lens is about right for taking pics of (I was going to say "shooting", but ...) horses, and the manual focus is also good for that type of photography, but the picture storage time (the time between taking a picture and being able to take the next one) feels a bit long for that type of work - a couple of seconds.

For real action work, which this is, I'd be most concerned with that figure. You either have to wait it out, or take continuous pictures (about 2/second).

-- Al Klein (aklein@us.luxottica.com), August 01, 2000.