Parents Camera Recommendation?

[kristilyn73]

Hi All.. I am in the market for a new camera. I want to spend $300 or less. I would like the ability to Shoot video and action shots. Of course for meets it needs to have a good zoom ( I saw on previous threads to get an opital not digital zoom). I want to be able to easily transfer video and photos to my computer. I would like a rechargable battery. I don't really know what else I want.. I don't really care about the size of the camera.

I have seen some good reviews for this camera:

Sony Cybershot 10.1MP Digital Camera - Black (H20)

Does anyone have any experience with this camera? Or something else that might be good?

Below is the link to the Best Buy Page.

Link Removed

Thanks in advance.

 

[mariposa]

I have a camera that I use as my video camera for most thing. The quality isn't as good as a real video camera, but I can live with that for most things. I love my camera, but it isn't made anymore and hard to find. All Abby's gymnastics meets are shot with my regular camera. So much easier than having to lug around 2 things, especially since I am chasing a 3 year old, too. I have the Canon S3 IS. Looks like the video quality on the Sony you like is way better.

The Sony one looks great! Reviews are good at Amazon Amazon.com: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H20/B 10.1 MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization: Camera & Photo. I would go for it. If I had the money, I would totally buy one just to see how the video quality is.

 

[mariposa]

Only thing that I noticed with the reviews is the batteries. Mine uses regular AA batteries and I love that about it. I use rechargeables, but they are cheap. Just last meet, I charged the batteries and put them in. When I got to the meet, something had happened and NO BATTERY life at all. Luckily, since my camera takes regular AAs, I ran to Circle K and bought a pack of disposable batteries. Abby loves her meet videos and would have been so sad that I couldn't take video.

Just some food for thought.

 

[maddiemei]

I'm glad you posted this. I've actually been looking for a new camera for action shots. I have a canon that takes awesome video, but I want an SLR camera. I've been looking at the Nikon D3000. Does anyone have that one and use it? I would be doing other things with it, but I really want a good action shot camera.

Thanks
Jennifer

 

[Mom2G&D]

Depends on how much you want to spend on an SLR. I LOVE my Canon D40. I have a variety of lenses and have taken some great shots with it (close ups of fower petals to a Derek Jeter print taken from the stands that looks as though he was standing right next to me!) . Better still, I can print those shots in very large formats no visible grainy effects.

 

[emandelsmom]

We shoot with a Nikon D80. I love it. It costs over a thousand for the camera and 2 lenses. We have added 3 more lenses since then. I get great shots with it.
I have uploaded 2 shots. One is of Ellie on bars-my 6 year old and the other is of Emma on floor. I have not edited these yet. But we are able to stop the action with no blur and no flash.

 

[crazygymmom]

We shoot with a Nikon D80. I love it. It costs over a thousand for the camera and 2 lenses. We have added 3 more lenses since then. I get great shots with it.
I have uploaded 2 shots. One is of Ellie on bars-my 6 year old and the other is of Emma on floor. I have not edited these yet. But we are able to stop the action with no blur and no flash.

What kind of lens do you have??
I had a Canon Rebel (SLR) with some lens I bought because of it's "zooming" capability and I can't get a good pic to save my life! I NEED a good lens!

 

[NotAMom]

emandelsmom, I use a D70s. I'm curious to know what mode and ISO you used for those shots.

crazygymmom, good (fast) lenses are very expensive. For gym shot, one can get by by opening up the ISO to 800 or 1600 with a regular speed f3.5-5.6 zoom VR lens. The result isn't the best but it's acceptable and is far better than anything with a point-and-shoot.

 

[emandelsmom]

Emma on floor was shot with a fixed 50mm lens. Hubby shot it in manual mode. Ellie was shot with 18-200 lens shot in manual mode. The aperture was as low as we could go. I have to go to work now, but after gym tonight I will plug the card into the camera and find out the actual settings. We practice a lot at the girls gym. This gym had a great setup so we weren't horribly far away. My hubby able to get almost right next to balance beam. I have some great shots there but they aren't of my child so I won't post those.

 

[emandelsmom]

My husband signed up for classes at the local junior college for around 50 for 10 classes in how to learn to photograph using the DSLR. It helped. BUt honestly alot of it is just playing with the camera. I did some research online about using a 50mm to shoot gymnastics. I like it because it lets the light in, but it isn't good for distances.

 

[bpatient]

Noise reduction software helps.

Most of my daughter’s meets over the years have been held in dimly-lit caves. If your child competes in similarly dark venues (around here they are often termed “gymsâ€￾ or “convention centersâ€￾), you might benefit from some digital noise reduction software, regardless of the camera you use. There are a number of relatively inexpensive noise reduction programs that are easy to use, with versions that can function within Photoshop and similar programs or as stand-alones. Here are some example stand-alone programs that can be downloaded as free trials:

Noise Ninja ($35): Noise Ninja: The gold standard for image noise reduction
Noiseware ($30): Imagenomic - Imagination at Shutter Speed
Neat Image ($30): Neat Image - best noise reduction for digital cameras and scanners
Topaz Denoise ($80): Topaz DeNoise - Advanced Image Noise Reduction Removes Noise, Not Details

The free trial versions of the first three of these programs either partially deface the developed images with a gray grid or process only a portion of larger images, but the trial version of Denoise produces a fully-processed image that is useful if you’d like to see how the noise reduction helps to improve the quality of a print. Since the results are rather similar for all four programs, you could try Denoise to see if your current camera or a prospective purchase can produce results that you will enjoy.

FWIW, the Olympic standard for illumination at gymnastics events allows shooting at 1/500th second at f/2.8 and ISO 800. My kid, though, competes in caverns illuminated by sputtering torches and smoky oil lamps to the apparent Junior Olympic standard of 1/250th second at f/2.8 and ISO 3200—about 1/8th of the light the big girls enjoy. Since 1/250th of a second isn’t fast enough to stop action (and my Nikon D300 is noisy at ISO 1600 and very noisy at ISO 3200), the choice is an even higher ISO with more noise to allow the use of a higher shutter speed or a whole lot of shots of cute poses on the beam. Noise reduction helps.

 

[emandelsmom]

Thank you so much for that info. We have shot a lot at 1600 and those are so grainy. With the 50mm we were able to use a lower ISO and not get the grain. I would love a 100mm or 200mm manual lens. I am going to share the info above with my husband. Will these work with Photoshop Elements?

 

[bpatient]

Will these work with Photoshop Elements?

I believe that all four of those programs (and some others) will work as plug-ins in recent versions of Photoshop Elements, although the plug-in versions are slightly more expensive than the stand-alone programs (of course they are more convenient if you will use PSE, anyway). They can all produce similar results if you play with the settings. I get the best results if I shoot raw format (NEF in Nikon-speak) with in-camera noise reduction turned completely off and then send the developed raw file as a TIF for noise reduction using a noise-reduction plug-in in Photoshop, but any one of those programs should help with jpeg files, too.

 

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

I have this camera and traded up for a SLR Cannon Rebel. It is good for video but not on continuous shooting. Takes beautiful pictures other than that. DH used it and I use the Rebel now. I wont get rid of it because it has its uses I just wanted to get into the SLR

 

[sportyfam5]

In Dec I purchased a Sony DSC-HX1.
The reasons I purchased it
-20x optical zoom
-sport mode and capable of taking 10 shots in one second
-HD video camera
-panoramic mode
-9MP

What I love about it
-in the ISO mode I can get really good clear shots at full zoom, real photo critics may say they are a bit grainy but at that distant I am glad to get a really good shot
-video quality is great
-sport mode with 10 shots per second works really well although slightly darker than the ISO mode

I usually take pictures during warm-ups then video the competition.

This camera cost about $600, so more that you were looking to spent and almost as much as a DLR but I like the features (bells and whistles) it had to offer.

Good luck

 

[NotAMom]

I've been looking at the Nikon D3000. Does anyone have that one and use it?

Coincidentally, I came across this -> Nikon D3000 for your reference. Can't say I've used one myself.

 

[crazygymmom]

crazygymmom, good (fast) lenses are very expensive. For gym shot, one can get by by opening up the ISO to 800 or 1600 with a regular speed f3.5-5.6 zoom VR lens. The result isn't the best but it's acceptable and is far better than anything with a point-and-shoot.

I've been looking at a Canon f4 70-200 with IS or a Sigma f2.8 70-200 without IS ??? Any advice?
TIA!

 

[emandelsmom]

Notamom,
The floor pic I posted was at ISO 1600, Shutter 1/400, Aperture f1.8, and using a 50mm lens in Manual Mode on a Nikon D80.
The bars pic I posted wat at ISO 1600,Shutter 1/125, Aperture F4.2, Manual mode, , focal length 72 mm using the 200 lens.
Hope this helps.