Camera Labs

I missed out on a great used canon d3100 and now looking for something else to purchase and don't want to wait for a another great bargain to come along. So I may purchase something new but too many choices and I don't really know what I need so asking for guidelines to help narrow my search criteria please. I am planning on buying a laptop but I don't want to spend hours at a computer fiddling with my images.
I like to take black and white, sepia, and color shots. I am lazy and want to point and shoot and capture the image with lots of takes per second. I also want to take action shots of horses.
I am a novice photographer with a willingness to learn but I don't do well learning from a manual, I will have to take classes.

Hello and welcome to the forum! Could I just confirm are you looking for a DSLR or compact camera and what is your budget?
As far as entry level DSLR's go not many of them have a high FPS as this is usually reserved for higher end cameras. However Sony do seem to offer this on their cameras. Take a look at the Sony SLT-A37. It has 7fps which is more than enough for your need and from what I have heard it is a pretty good camera. I would suggest choosing a DSLR over a compact camera as the larger sensor size will offer you greater image quality, better ISO performance ect.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-SLTA37-Tra ... 986&sr=8-1

The body is going for around £450 in the UK. Not sure if this is within your budget.

Hope this help,
James

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Camera: Canon 550D with battery grip
Lenses: Canon 24-105mm f/4L, Canon 50mm f1.4, Canon 18-55mm, Tamron 70-300mm,
Accessories: Manfrotto 055XPROB with 808RC4 head, Canon 430ex II speedlite, Lowepro Nova 180AW and Lowepro Pro Runner 450AW

Oh that is so lame, every hot girl who can aim a camera thinks she’s a photographer -Stewie Griffin

On this comment as a heads up, you may read comments here and elsewhere that the "kit" or entry-level lenses with DSLRs/SLTs give you generally poor image quality or limited performance but that statement is relative. Compared to more expensive DSLR lenses of similar focal range, there's a degree of truth in such statements but compared to most compact cameras, the kit lenses with DSLRs give are vastly superior in terms of image quality.

The other benefit that DSLRs have that's often impractical to replicate with a compact is the ease of blurring the background to make the subject/focus of the photo stand out. I'd imagine that if you plan on doing action shots of horses, you'd probably want to get a shot of the horse in mid-jump over a fence, which I reckon is a great opportunity to get that effect. A fast lens (you'll learn the terminology soon enough) will make this effect easier to achieve but such lenses are usually expensive except for the entry-level 50mm.

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Bodies: Canon EOS 550D w/ Magic Lantern
Lenses: Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX f/2.8, Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Accessories: YongNuo Speedlite YN-468 Flash, Neewer Macro LED Ring Light, Meike Battery Grip, YongNuo RF-602 Wireless Flash Trigger & Receiver YongNuo WR-128 Wireless Remote Control