Choose the Perfect Camera

The Sports Camera

Fast-moving subjects can be difficult to capture. You need a camera that reacts speedily to freeze the action and has a strong enough zoom to get close to athletes moving quickly in the distance.

Olympus C-5500 SportZoom

Price: $320

The moderately priced, 8.6-ounce, 5.1-megapixel Olympus C-5500 SportZoom fits the bill for capturing fast movement, with a 5X zoom lens that will take you close to the action from the sidelines.

Although the C-5500 has a sports mode that uses a fast shutter speed to stop movement, you can also use its shutter-priority mode to set shutter speed as fast as 1/1500 second; however, you may need to increase the camera's sensitivity (up to ISO 400) to compensate.

Freezing the action entirely isn't always desirable. Slower shutter speeds can give the impression of movement: Panning with a subject like a race car will blur the background and the rotating wheels, but a point-and-shoot camera is unlikely to have the fast, accurate focusing and quick shutter response needed to make it work. In our informal testing, the C-5500's focusing was usually swift enough to get good results, though it sometimes failed to lock on immediately. Use continuous burst mode to snap multiple frames, to help ensure that you get a good shot.

In continuous-focus mode, the camera focuses on a moving subject even when it's not in the center of the frame.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT

Price: $1000

Photographers with a bigger budget will get higher-quality images and superior control from a digital SLR, such as the 8-megapixel Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. The camera body alone costs $900, or you can buy a $1000 kit that includes a 28mm-to-88mm zoom lens. Either way, you'll need a longer zoom lens (such as Canon's lightweight, 55mm-to-200mm zoom, priced at $270) to fill the frame with action in the distance.

As with point-and-shoots, shutter speed is a top priority when photographing sports. The Rebel XT delivers even better results than the Olympus C-5500 SportZoom because you can really freeze action at its fastest shutter speed of 1/4000 second. Most of the cameras here that are equipped with a fixed lens (meaning you can't swap lenses) cannot capture more than 2 frames per second in a burst, and they stop at 5 frames. In contrast, the Rebel XT is rated to take up to 14 shots at 3 fps, though we took 20 shots at that speed using high-speed CompactFlash media. Athletes and racehorses stay sharp even when they're running toward you, thanks to the camera's predictive focusing. In addition, you can crank the Rebel XT's sensitivity up to as high as ISO 1600 for shooting indoor games and nighttime contests.

Click here for more on this camera.