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Question

Need camera to take pictures of kids and their sports.

Dec 22, 2011 11:19AM PST

Had a cannon digital from Best Buy Electronics hated it. Camera is in the repair dept. more than I got to use it. I am not technical savvy so need something easy to understand.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Kids and their sports
Dec 22, 2011 12:59PM PST

It depends upon what type of sports and under what lighting conditions.

If you want to photograph an active sport in daylight conditions, just about any digital camera will do the job.

If you want to photograph an active sport in low light or indoor lighting conditions, there are no low cost simple cameras that can pull that off. The cheapest camera you will find, start at about $400.

So, what age kids are we talking about and what sports are involved?

..

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kids and sports
Dec 26, 2011 1:41AM PST

I want to photograph a 15 year old playing football and wrestling. I have a 17 year old who does dance and a 10 year old who does dance, gymnastics and soon baseball.

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Indoors is difficult and expensive
Dec 26, 2011 2:19AM PST

Outdoors just about any camera will do what you want. But when you move indoors, lighting is very poor, even if it seems bright to the naked eye. To offset poor lighting, a camera must have a very good digital sensor that can adjust its gain to compensate, and/or a lens that has a wide aperture to allow in as much light as possible. Without those things, the camera would try to compensate by using a slow shutter speed, causing the fast moving subjects in the photos to be blurry. DSLR cameras have large digital sensors and can mount wide aperture lenses. Unfortunately, DSLR cameras are bulky, and bright lenses are bulky and expensive. The lenses can often cost more than the camera itself. Assuming you needed to take indoor photos from a distance, a DSLR with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens would start at about $1500...and you would still need to learn a bit about photography. There is no cheap or easy to understand solution.

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WoW!
Dec 26, 2011 5:46AM PST

WoW! That is a little out of my budget. So like what camera exactly do you recommend? Maybe I can find a good deal online.