Looking to get a New Camera

[Flutterby]

For my birthday this year I've decided I want a new camera. It has to be digital, a good zoom and take good action shots (since I'm most likely to use it for horse shows) and most of all - Be under about £150. Is it possible? I don't have a large budget because it'd be my paretns buying it, and we aren't exactly rolling in it.

Any suggestions? Other than the above, I'm not picky really. Oh, and it can't have too long a delay on the shutter - it drives me insane on my current one!

 

[Big Mike]

I'm sure there are some point & shoot digi-cams that are faster than others, when it comes to snapping the picture. I know what you mean, I can't stand to use most of them because they seem to take forever when you press the button.

I think you can compare the shutter lag of the cameras on sites like www.dpreview.com And make sure to try the camera out in a store, before you buy it.

On some cameras, I think there are things you can do, to make it faster. Often, the camera has to do a lot of thinking when you press the button...focus, determine exposure etc. If you can turn off some of the extra stuff (pre-flash for example) that might help. Also, if you can prefocus the camera by holding down the button half way, that will often help.

The best thing to do, is to learn how fast your particular camera will react in different situations...and try to judge the action...snapping the camera right before the critical moment.

That's just one of those features that is better on more expensive cameras.

 

[hot shot]

just go into the local indepentant camera shop and start trying is the best thing ive found to do