Camera Labs

I currently have a Lumix DMC-TZ3 that I got based off reviews on this site. But now I would like a camera that takes pictures faster.
Zoom doesn't matter, but size does. I am also pretty flexible on price.
HD video and high speed video are also nice to haves, but I might just get a dedicated video camera for that.

I mostly take pictures of individuals and groups with lots of motion (indoor and out).

I was looking at some of the following.
Casio EX FC150
Sony DSC-HX5V
Nikon COOLPIX S8000

Any thoughts on these or additional suggestions?

Thanks

We probably need additional information before we can provide you with any advice/suggestions. Can you clarify what you mean by "action shots"?

FWIW - from my experience, you will be challenged to obtain good action results with anything less than a decent DSLR with a fps speed of 4.5 or higher. ymmv.

_________________
Olympus e-620 / 14-42mm / 40-150mm
Metz 48 AF-1
Kata 3-N-1 20, LowePro Orion Mini, LowePro Nova 2
My Flickr

Action shots like skateboarding at a skate park, soccer.

The only thing keeping me from the dslr is the size. I was hopping that some of the newer CMOS based point and shoots would be good enough now for decent action shots.

If fps is purely what I should look for, the Casio EX FC150 says it has up to 40fps

i think that is video recording fps, not shooting fps

and you shouldn't watch fps only, but buffer size, (in compacts image size at witch it can shoot at declared fps), and image quality.

_________________
nikon d90 --->af-s dx 18-105mm; tamron 90mm macro

add me up on:

flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bakica/

deviant art:
http://tbensic.deviantart.com/

----:>bakice ce vladati svjetom<:----

Also check how long it takes to clear the buffer .

_________________
Sony α77V/VG-C77AM/α350/18-70/70-400 G SSM/NEX-5/18-55 OSS/Lowepro Pro Trekker 600 AW/CompuTrekker AW/Nova 140 AW/Street & Field gear/Toploader Pro 75 AW. And a huge wishlist...

My photos on Flickr...

Bakica - Perhaps Jbmercha is quoting the claim on the Casio Site for this camera, where it does say, Quote:

HIGH SPEED BURST
Up to 40 fps at full resolution

The EX-FC150 can shoot at an amazing 40 frames per second in High Speed Burst mode. This allows you to capture up to 40 images with a single press of the button. After the images have been taken you simply save one, two or all of the images to capture the perfect moment." - End quote.

As we can see, it does describe it as a "Burst Mode", not "Fast Continuous" - and it apparently buffers that for review - during which the user can select from the images which to save, or save all of them. This is apparently at a slightly reduced 9Mpix.

For sports, one of the cameras that does a more shots-number shutter button controllable 10-12fps as "fast", then 7-5-3fps selectable, might suit better - particularly as the camera only does 300 shots per power-pack charge.

If the intention is to shoot skateboarding and field games such as soccer, 5x zoom might be a bit short in reach.

Some more zoom, 12-15x at least, full resolution Continuous at up to 12fps, and Shutter Priority mode, might be a more usable combination, and in some situations, faster max shutter than this camera's 1/1000th-sec.

However, getting "all of that" in a shirt-pocket size camera at equal to this Casio's $300.00, might be "a big ask".

Perhaps going "up a size or two" would give a wider range of functions, for not a lot more money.

Dave.

well it certainly seemed to fast not to have any trick at all, unbelievable even for still photos..
all in all as it is a burst mode i don't think its useful since it can shoot for 1 second. and if it needs much time to save them than it is surely unpractical. (i find 6 frames on 10fps on my p100 pretty useless) i would rather have 3fps for 20 secs..

_________________
nikon d90 --->af-s dx 18-105mm; tamron 90mm macro

add me up on:

flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bakica/

deviant art:
http://tbensic.deviantart.com/

----:>bakice ce vladati svjetom<:----

Bakica - Good, you're making the very sensible point that "very" fast Continuous on P&S cameras does have some problems.

My HS10 (uses the same sensor as your P100) - initially on release had "fast" Continuous speed problems - not so much with JPEG, as it did 8-9fps of the Fuji-claimed 10fps - but with RAW, and particularly RAW+JPEG, it wasn't doing even nearly the 5fps option of the claimed 5fps/3fps.

Whatever the next (1.02) - firmware update did to the RAW fps-rate - it's now about 5.5fps RAW only, and 5fps RAW+JPEG - it "put the steroids" into the JPEG fps rate. On that firmware update, several Review sites lab-tested the claimed 10fps at between 12.5 and 13.2fps... (At the best I can time mine with an electronic timer, it's 12fps+)

The HS10 saves 7 frames on JPEG (6 on RAW, 5 on RAW+JPEG) - and 7 frames in just over a half-second, as you say - isn't a lot of use, unless for something at high-velocity - and for that, how would you correctly trigger the shutter....?

The 7fps rate has a "spread" of about a second - in time, over an action. Unless doing stop-action in Shutter Priority or Manual - using the 5fps, or 3fps speeds, is a lot more practical and useful.

At 7, 5 and 3fps, you can shutter-button control the number of shots - 3, 4, or 5 frames out of the possible 7 in JPEG can often get the shot - resulting in less buffer-to-card time between shots.

Any hopes of controlling number of frames at 40fps with the shutter button would seem unlikely - even if the camera function allowed that. The Casio above does have other rates - probably rather more suitable for actual use.

Dave.

Thanks for all the input.
I could go a bit larger. Really anything I can fit in cargo paints I can easily take with me.

It looks like most of the newer cameras with CMOS censors have a decent continuous shooting or burst speed. But the shot-to-shot speeds are a little harder to find. And I assume the time to dump the buffer to the sd card has more to do with the sd card than the camera.

So I think the features I am looking for now are
CMOS sensor (with ~10 fps continuous shot), Shutter Priority, buffer size, around 10x zoom, and IQ.