Camera choice?

I am the athletic director for a middle school and I would like to take pictures of the kids playing sports to use in slideshows at lunches. Our sports are both indoors and out, sometimes the gyms have limited lighting.

So, I guess I need something quick enough for sports and decent enough to get some good shots. If I want to stay around $500 what would be a good camera?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chumpson

I am the athletic director for a middle school and I would like to take pictures of the kids playing sports to use in slideshows at lunches. Our sports are both indoors and out, sometimes the gyms have limited lighting.

So, I guess I need something quick enough for sports and decent enough to get some good shots. If I want to stay around $500 what would be a good camera?

---

For $500 dollars you're not going to get an SLR that fits the criteria you are looking for, so I instead suggest you look at a nice point and shoot with a good zoom. Personally, I'd recommend the new Olympus SP-570UZ as its 20x zoom is perfect for sports and its image quality is very good. The Nikon offerings (P80) and the IS Canons can't do the same for a point and shoot, I'm afraid. Plus, the image stabilization is 3/4 as good as my $4500 Nikon 300mm super-telephoto: that's saying something. To make things even better, it costs exactly $500 (street price is lower) so you can snag it within your budget with enough room for a memory card.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fx101

For $500 dollars you're not going to get an SLR that fits the criteria you are looking for

---

What would it cost to get something like that?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chumpson

What would it cost to get something like that?

---

With a zoom range of at least 200mm, you're taking at least around $900-1000, and that's with an OK lens (18-135 or something of the sort) with a zoom capability far short of the olympus PS camera. Something that'll give you magazine quality pics is going to be much more. You're going to be much better off with the Olympus-- trust me.

The Sony DSC-H50 has a "Sports Mode", however, the jury is still out on any initial reviews.

I'd say Canon G9.

I think the long telephoto mid size point and shoots. these were taken with a Sony DSC-H!
I don't think you need an SLR A canon S5is or the Sony H9 or the equivilant Fuji will be fine. Just learn to pre focus.