Which camera is best for action shots? What megapixels is best?

[tthullen]

I am looking to purchase a new digital camera. I'd like to keep it under $400. I would like to know which camera is best with capturing action shots? I'd also like to know what is the minimum number of megapixels a camera should have to produce bright, clean and clear pictures (both action shots and normal, everyday shots)? Thanks for any help you can offer.

[AlexMonro]

It depends a lot on what sort of action shots you're interested in. How close are you going to be to the action? You may need a long zoom. How well lit is the action? If it's at night under floodlights, or indoors, you'll need high sensitivity to enable fast shutter speed to freeze motion blur. If you want to make big prints, good noise performance is more important. Low shutter lag is opviously important, but that can often be helped if you can prefocus.

As to pixel count, that depends on how big you want to make prints. The rule of thumb is that you need about 300 pixels per inch for prints viewd up close, and 100 - 150 PPI for prints viewed at a distance - hung on a wall, say. So for 6"x4" you need about 2Mpixel, for 10"x8" viewed close about 7Mpixel, and for 30"x20" on the wall about 6 - 13Mpixel. I've made some very nice 30"x20" prints with my 9Mpixel Fuji S9500.