Good camera for taking youth league sports photos?

Question

I'm looking for an upgrade on our current camera to use for taking photos of my kids participating in youth sports (soccer, softball, basketball). I'm dealing with a limited budget so I was wondering if there are any mid range cameras out there that have decent enough shutter speed for action photos or is a digital SLR pretty much the only way to go? We have one of those little pocket sized sony cameras that you can buy at pretty much any Walmart and its decent enough for photos if people are standing still but everything I have shot of my kids playing basketball is either blurred, or grainy depending on what settings I run it on. I had a Kodak P712 that had a pretty decent zoom but had to return it due to mechanical issues that I was never able to get resolved.

TheḞlow · Accepted Answer

The only thing with sports photography, is that it is EXPENSIVE!

To get great sports photos, you will need:
-Fast shutter speeds to stop motion (at least 1/500 sec.)
-High zooms (in lens terms these are called telephoto lens. Most sports photographers use lens that range from 70-600mm)
-In low light, high ISO's (ISO is basically the sensors sensitivity to light.)



If you really want to go with the CHEAPEST gear, here's what I say:
*A DSLR camera body ( cheapest on the market is the Nikon D3000) - $550
*Large memory CF card (at least 4GB) - $30
*Long lens (like a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, but that sets you back $1,800. If we are wanting CHEAP, then the best in that range would be the 55-200mm VR lens) - $200
-------------------
             Total = $780



This is why I say EXPENSIVE! And this is the VERY MINIMAL for sports photography.

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Good camera for taking youth league sports photos?

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