Advice on <$200 camera for action shots?

[uhlmiano]

Hi all, I'm new to these forums and photography in general. I'm very interested in getting somewhat of beginner a camera in the $200 price range that would enable me to take high quality action shots. I've done a lot of research and I think a camera with burst/continuous shooting capabilities would be a must, but what camera would some of you much more knowledgeable/experienced individuals recommend me looking into? Thanks!

 

[480sparky43 42]

Sad to say, your budget really won't get you what you need. You have champagne tastes and a beer budget.

 

[Mike_E]

Look up a Nikon D70 with a kit lens 18-70mm would be better than the 18-55mm but either would do.

Look to spend around $250 on ebay.

You'll need a flash, the yongnuo 560 ll
gets a lot of good pub around here and that's another $82 at Newegg.com

The D70 is an older camera that will produce fine prints to 8X10 and any size you like on a monitor. The Best part (aside from it falling near your budget) is that it has a max flash sync speed of 1/500th to really stop the action.

You may have to spend a little while looking at e-bay but they have been sold for about this recently.

Good luck

 

[gsgary]

$200 is not enough for a good night out

 

[SCraig]

For action shots I would not recommend most point-and-shoot or bridge cameras since in general the shutter lag is too long for action sequences. Others may disagree, and they could well be right. I don't keep up with that technology so there may be something that will work fine. If there is something it would be a lot closer to your price range than a DSLR.

As others have mentioned $200 is a very, very low budget for a DSLR for action shots. You didn't mention whether you meant action shots indoors or outdoors during the day, and there is a big difference. Indoors requires fast lenses whereas outdoors during the day you can normally get by with a slower lens since there is normally decent light. Outdoors at night is going to require a fast lens without much question. Using a flash is frowned upon for sports or most action shots since the light is very distracting to the people being photographed.

$200 is not going to buy much of either. A used, older-model body with a single short focal length lens is about the best you can hope for. You would really be better off saving for a while and getting something better.

 

[rexbobcat]

Canon 1D mark I is the only option that I can think of. But it's a fairly old digital camera and it's not very user-friendly.

And then you need lenses, which are much more expensive.

 

[uhlmiano]

Sad to say, your budget really won't get you what you need. You have champagne tastes and a beer budget.

This definitely gave me a chuckle. I could probably expand my budget into the $500 range. What would you recommend in that area?

 

[usayit]

$200 is going to be very tough....

Outside of the DSLR realm, you may consider the Panasonic FZ200 bridge camera but brand new is still outside your budget. Its still a small sensor camera but it is equipped with a 25-600mm equivFOV optic that is f/2.8 across the entire range. Some bird shooters are excited about it apparently.

 

[brunerww]

Sad to say, your budget really won't get you what you need. You have champagne tastes and a beer budget.

This definitely gave me a chuckle. I could probably expand my budget into the $500 range. What would you recommend in that area?

I agree with usayit - the Panasonic FZ200, with its constant f2.8 24x lens and 12fps burst rate at max resolution should be able to do the job.

You can find one for $500CDN on ebay.ca.

Good luck!

Bill