We cannot always take a tripod with us. So, I am getting strong with the opinion that Image stabilization is a must for point and shoot cameras, especially for sports use. I'm expecting that within 1-2 years every camera will have that system, be it 3x or 10x. My guess is without that system, there is no future camera.
The guys who use SLRs will have to carry bulky cameras anyways. So, tripod is not a heavy addition to their carrying list. But, how about guys like us who want to use point and shoots? The answer is Image stabilization!!! (May not help 100 % but atleast 75-85 % of the times).
Can anyone add any better? Moderators?
I take a lot of kids activity pictures, soccer, football, baseball and stuff like that. Someone suggested I get a telephoto lens. I mentioned the picture quality is better on the optical lens than it is with the digital. Well, I checked around Fuji wants ton of money for just a 1.5x, and Ebay has deals fro much less. Then the help started rolling in, one person says to just get a 2x off Ebay all telephoto lenses are the same. Another person said buy the Ebay package deal, you get filters, Telephoto and wide angle along with other stuff. One person said all you need are the filters (even though I haven't noticed a problem with glare or indoor shots whiting out) One said Telephoto lens with the S5000's 10x optical would make it impossible to shoot a decent picture because of hand shake, I would have to always use the tripod, which is not feasible all the time.
So my question is, for an amateur, is a package off Ebay with filter and lenses ok? Should I just get filters? Are all Telephoto lenses pretty much the same?
Any insight into this would be greatly appreciated.

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