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General discussion

Best camera for taking pictures of kids

May 17, 2011 9:43AM PDT

Hey guys I'm looking for the best camera I could get for $300 or less for taking pictures of my 2 year old. I need a quick shutter speed . He is fast. Thanks for the help.

Discussion is locked

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Shutter lag and other issues
May 17, 2011 11:51AM PDT

Outdoors in good light, any camera with minimal shutter lag will do the job. Indoors and/or in low light is where compact cameras have problems keeping up. Because they have small imaging sensors and small lenses, they cannot capture enough light. This causes the shutter to stay open longer, and the result is blurred photos. Compact cameras also use a focusing system that relies on contrast, something that begins to fade in low light. This causes the camera to take longer to focus; the result is missed shots.

The short answer is that compact cameras will be fine in good light. No compact camera will be very good at capturing action indoors.

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Also interested in an answer to this
Oct 22, 2011 11:41PM PDT

@PistonCupChampion: I understand what you are saying here, but this is not a helpful response. Some cameras are still better than others at capturing actions shots. Mine takes so long that everything is out of the frame (pets, adults, kids, etc) by the time the picture actually takes. To say that none are good will not help someone choose a camera.

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Better = More Money
Oct 23, 2011 1:18PM PDT

As I wrote before, there are separate issues in play. Some cameras do have less shutter lag, but even if a camera has less lag, unless it can capture enough light indoors, it can still generate a blurry shot. To capture more light means a bigger/better sensor and/or a brighter lens. Those things typically do not exist on cameras under $300.

All of the above is assuming taking photos without flash. With flash, small cameras can be quick, but the flash is very limited in range, usually only a couple of meters. One other point: all cameras are quick using pre-focus, i.e. pressing the shutter button half-way, composing the shot, then fully depressing the shutter button.