I have a family friend who is looking for a new camera for a very specific reason. He is a grandfather, and wants a camera that can "keep up" with taking pictures of a fast moving 3 year old.

He likes Canon, and would like to purchase at Costco. Understand that he will always have the camera on one of the automatic settings, and I talked to him about the "sports/action" setting, but he also related to me that he likes to take pictures of his grand-daughter while she is playing inside.

He feels as though he since he misses the shot so often, he would rather have a camera with a high burst rate so he can take ten pictures quickly and throw 9 out, keeping the good one.

S3? Is there a better option for him? I think he currently has an older Sony Cybershot. Any thoughts?

 

G9 is an awesome camera. played with one a couple weeks ago and was SUPER impressed.

 

What's his budget?

A Rebel XT with a fast prime would be much better than a P&S for indoor action shots, especially if he wants to use drive modes. You can pick up an XT with a 18-55 for $460 at B&H, or body only for $395. Add another $85 for a EF 50mm f/1.8 and he'll have a nice setup.

 

if he wants a high burst rate how about this camera

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0801/08010601casiof1.asp

60fps!!!

 

Dan, good point. I will have to talk to him about how comfortable he feels with a DSLR, as opposed to a smaller camera with less buttons/options. He is definitely a "old dog, please no new tricks" kind of guy.

Miz, I remember seeing that review before. Looks hawt, but I think a grand may be more than he wants to spend.

Understand, this guy is not a photo guy, he just wants to be able to get the good pictures of his grandchild.

I will also explain to him the method of half pressing the shutter to lock the exposure, then fully pressing to release the shutter when the scene is right. He is probably raising the camera and fully pressing the shutter all in one motion, leading to the lag. A fast burst rate will help him in this respect, cause he can throw out the 9 bad frames if the camera captured one good one, without him having to really think about it.

 

The P&S cams on the market today still don't auto focus well in low light. The new models might let you do high frame rates, but it doesn't help if they're all out of focus.

I think he could comfortably leave the XT in Sports Mode when he's shooting moving kids and just go back to Green Box Mode for everything else. The only thing he'll have to get used to is shooting through the viewfinder vs composing on the LCD. Of course, if he has money to throw at the project, the new XSi has Live View with auto focus which will feel exactly like using a P&S.

 

except the short battery life when doing that