I want to shoot basketball photos

[tualatin]

Hi: I have a 6 yr old olympus c-2000 Z digital and want to purchase a new dig. camera in the 400 to 570 price range that will do a better job shooting my sons basketball photos at games. I seem to need a larger lense and we don't use a flash during the games. Can anyone suggest a new camera?

[livin4lax09]

it depends. Are you looking for an SLR or a compact digital? if you're taking the SLR route, you aren't going to find nearly anything in that range. Especially if you're shooting indoors, since you'll need a zoom lens with a larger aperture, and those can cost quite a bit. Taking basketball shots is tough, and I'd say that you'll want to get something that has at least a 1600 ISO speed, because I have tried shooting basketball with 400 with a cheaper lens and almost all the pictures are blurry since the fastest shutter you can get is about 90. To shoot basketball you will need either a) an f2.8 lens b) a camera with at least 800 ISO c) a flash. As far as I know, most compact cameras don't have high ISOs because the film noise is so apparent. Compact cameras are just bad for basketball, period. I'd say go with an SLR, but look to drop at least 600 on the body alone in the case of the digital rebel from canon. Nikon puts out the d-70, which many will argue is better, but more expensive.

[another view]

An SLR would really be the way to go, but for $600 the only digital options might be something like a used Digital Rebel. And that's without any lenses or memory cards too. You'll need a "fast" lens for this too, meaning that the maximum aperture is pretty large (like f2.8 or a lower number). Tamron has a really nice 28-75mm f2.8 that came out recently and it's in the under $400 range - or a fast prime (non-zoom) lens like an 85 f1.8 or 50 f1.8.

A film SLR could do a really good job with the right lens and still be in your budget with a lens.