The Olympus C765 and Konica Minolta Z3 are two good choices.
Of course you will not be using flash as it would be distracting to the contestants. Plus you will be too far away for the flash to be effective.
I am still amused when I see a sporting event half-time show being photographed by people in the stands using flash. Most flash units have a range limit of less than 15 feet.
The Z3 has the advantage when it comes to speed.
The shutter lag time is very short on the Z3.
Both cameras have "burst" modes, where you hold down the shutter button and the camera takes a pre-determined number of shots, in rapid fire.
Olympus calls it Sequential Shooting mode
Konica Minolta calls it Continuous Advance mode.
The Z3 has a bigger variety of "burst" modes.
Their ultra fast mode will take 15 (1280x960) photos at a rate of 10 photos per second. Standard setting is 5 (2272x1704) photos at a rate of 2.5 photos per second.
The Z3 also has image stabilization, which is certainly an advantage when shooting "hand held".
When shooting using a tripod, image stabilization offers no advantage.
....
Could someone point me in the right direction on choosing a digital for taking pictures at cheerleading competitions and other sporting events? A lot of times the lights are off except for just on the stage where the cheerleaders are performing. I need to be able to take several in-focus shots very quickly in order to catch some of the stunts. I figure I will need at least a 10X optical zoom. What about image stabilization? Should this be a concern? The two cameras I had been looking at are the Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom and the Konica Minolta Dimage Z3. This is pretty much as high as I can go in price range. Currently I use an Olympus Camedia C-3000 which I have had for many years and I love-I just cannot get close enough action shots with it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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