Help me ake a choice

[zathros]

I like photographing stuff, any stuff, I just love it.
The problem is I've noticed my vivitar 3740 is just so slowwwwwwwwwww at taking pics. If you're not rock steady or something moves, it's blurry.
Camera shops are no help they just say get a film camera. But I wan't the ease of digital so I can discar pics without the waste of printing costs.

Does anyone know of a good, fast shutter speed digi camera?
It doesn't have to be huge, 3megapixels will do. Preferably with an optical zoom.
May thanx
Zathros

[Riley]

zathros
might help if you can provide the following

a budget?
purpose you will use it for?
any low light or indoors photography
sports?
seen any cameras that appeal?
brands you hate?
features like Wide Angle, Image Stabilization, Weatherproof, Hotshoe, Rotating LCD?

also, there is a section called "Which Camera Should I Buy ?"

Riley

[JMBZ71]

Z... That's a new one. What kind of a camera shop wouldn't try to sell you a digital camera if that's what you're looking for? Odd...

JMBZ71 :)

[zathros]

general purpose, indoors and outdoors, any make, below £150/$300.
Fast shutter speed as all digi cameras I've tried are too slow, or is that how digital cameras are?

[wh0128]

go to http://www.nikondigital.com and look around at some of their digicams. My friend has a nice Nikon p&s and it works just fine and shoots great pictures. On the Nikon site just go to products<Coolpix<All Coolpix. When you go over the types of cameras they list the megapixel and the price, some that are in the range you are looking at with 6.2mp.

You've just got to look around. I'm sure if you go to a camera store and ask them if they have some small point&shoot cameras, they will most likely have them, and if they don't just go online and surf the web, there are tons of reviews, and even this site does reviews on cameras that you are looking for. Hope you get the camera you want.

[John_Reed]

general purpose, indoors and outdoors, any make, below £150/$300.
Fast shutter speed as all digi cameras I've tried are too slow, or is that how digital cameras are?
All digital cameras I know of are capable of quite fast shutter speeds, 1/1000 of a second being about the slowest "fast shutter speed" you could buy, with most offering speeds as fast as 1/2000 or more.

You must be referring to "shutter lag," as opposed to "shutter speed." That is, when you press down on the shutter button, how long does it take to finish the exposure? Most digital cameras if not all have two stages of "shutter lag." First, one depresses the shutter button halfway, and the camera takes a little time to set exposure and focus on the subject that you choose. Then, the button is fully depressed, and as a result, the shutter fires to capture the desired image. Generally the first phase is longer than the second phase. The shutter lag from "fully depressed" is typically less than 0.1 second for most digital cameras. And the first phase may take as long as 0.5 seconds or longer, depending on lighting conditions and zoom level. Those of who use digital cameras a lot have gotten used to the two different lags, so that we will frame the desired photo and leave our fingers half-depressed until just the right moment, then fire the shutter by completing the press. If you're new to the game, you might have to get used to that, especially in your stated price range.

A camera that I own, the Panasonic DMC-TZ1, is quite fast in both lag departments, and is situated just slightly above your price range (~$250US). If you're interested, read its review here on this site in the "Reviews" section. Whether or not you buy that particular camera, it will be informative to you to read the review, just to familiarize yourself with how these things operate.