A camera with a high still fps that shoots video

[illhoopsno2]

New to the forum. Hopefully you can help me with my dilemma.


I’ve been looking into this for quite some time, and am still kind of stuck. I’m looking for a hybrid camera that can shoot both video and photos. The videos specs don’t have to be anything special, it just has to be able to shoot video. (and shoot more than 3 minutes at a time)

As far as the photo specs, I’m looking for something that’s at least 8 mp and can shoot still frames at AT LEAST 2 frames per second. Zooming isn’t a great concern, just still frames per second. My budget is less than $500.

So what is the camera with highest STILL FPS that can also shoot video? I need a camera that I can use for high-quality shots, usable video, and a high enough FPS to make sprawl presentations.
I've found some decent ones that can do 2 FPS.

Also, I’ve found some interesting numbers while researching. They may be errors. This Panasonic (http://digitalcamera-hq.shopping.com/xPF-Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-FZ18K~PD-44388143~FD-7185~kworg-~kw-~linkin_id-3068547~DMT-7~VK-3068547) says it can shoot 7 still fps. Is that even possible for a non-slr?

Even more confusing,This Olympus (http://digitalcamera-hq.shopping.com/xPF-Olympus-SP-550-UZ~PD-40419649~FD-7185~kworg-~kw-~linkin_id-3068547~DMT-7~VK-3068547) says 15 still frames per second! Are these errors?

Hopefully someone can help me out! thanks!

[David Metsky]

From the review of the Olympus here on DCResource:
The standard sequential shooting mode took a measly three shots in a row at 1.2 frames/second -- nothing to write home about. To shoot faster you're going to need to lower the resolution and set the ISO to something other than 50, 100, or 200 (Auto is fine). The high speed sequential mode requires you to use a resolution of 3 Megapixels or less, and it took fifteen shots in a row at a speedy 8 frames/second. If that's not fast enough, you can lower the resolution even more (to 1280 x 960) and use the 15 fps high speed sequential mode. While it was a bit slower than advertised (shooting at more like 13-14 frames/second), that's still pretty darn fast -- and the camera took twenty shots in a row. You can also turn on a "precapture" mode, which actually starts buffering photos when you halfway press the shutter release, and saves the last five photos recorded before you fully press the button, plus the fifteen that came after that.
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/olympus/sp550uz-review/index.shtml

From the review of the Panasonic FZ-18 on DCResrouce:
The FZ18 has two burst modes available, called normal and unlimited, and they are for JPEG shooting only (no RAW support, sorry). In normal mode, the camera took four photos in a row (at the highest quality setting) at 3 frames/second. If you shift into unlimited mode, the camera will keep taking photos at 2 frames/second until your high speed memory card fills up.
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_fz18-review/index.shtml

The Sony W80 takes 2.7 fps, and the W90 is similar.

[illhoopsno2]

well thanks for clearing that up. I’ll have to check these reviews from now on. Do you know any other models that have a high FPS and shoot video?

[David Metsky]

All digital still cameras made today take some sort of video. Except for dSLRs of course.

Canons have reasonable burst mode, but I don't think any of the current crop of P&S will do 2 fps. The older models with smaller image size would, but the current crop is about 1.8 fps at the fastest. The S3 does 2.1 fps for example.

The Panasonic FZ30 and FZ50 both do around 2 fps depending on the mode you chose. The TZ3 will do slightly better for 5 shots, then drops to 2 fps until the card is full. The Sony T200 can do 2.1 fps for a while before slowing down.

-dave-