I am looking to buy this camera:
Canon Powershot
SD-780-IS
12.1 MP, Digital Elph
Is this a good camera and will it take good action photos?
Sounds like it's a pretty good camera. I think most point-and-shoot cameras are pretty good nowadays, especially for easy daytime shots.
Will it take good action photos, though? In general, you'll want a camera that has:
- a very short shutter lag time (the time between you pressing the shutter and the camera actually taking the photo),
- many frames-per-second (fps)
- larger aperture (smaller f-number) to let more light into your camera, allowing you to use faster shutter speeds
- good high-ISO performance (higher ISOs make your camera sensor more sensitive to light, allowing you to use faster shutter speeds)
- longer zoom, if you're taking action photos from farther away
- the ability to manually change the shutter speed for your camera
What type of actions are you trying to photograph? In general, point-and-shoot cameras do okay with "action photos" if the actions occur in bright daylight. If the lighting conditions aren't ideal, then your action photos may not be ideal with a point-and-shoot camera.
Using the above criteria, the Canon PowerShot SD780 camera:
- the shutter delay can be shortened to 1/10 - 2/10 seconds, but ONLY if you pre-focus the camera, trying to anticipate the action
- under regular shooting, your camera will shoot 1 photo every 2 seconds (or, 0.5 frames-per-second). Under a "continuous shooting" mode, your camera can go up to 1 photo / second. If your "action" is occurring slowly, then this may be okay. Today's DSLRs can do 3-5 frames-per-second, making them better choices for "action" photos.
- The maximum aperture of your camera is f/3.2. This is probably okay, but a smaller f-number (larger aperture) is definitely better. However, as soon as you use the zoom, your maximum aperture becomes f/5.8 - a very poor / small aperture for sports / action.
- In general, point-and-shoot cameras have very grainy photos at higher ISOs. DSLRs are much better with high ISO photos.
- I'm not sure if your "action photos" require any zoom. This camera only has 3x optical zoom. The camera also has a digital zoom, too, but ignore the specs for digital zoom. It's worthless. Only pay attention to specs for the optical zoom.
- it doesn't look like your camera allows you to manually change the shutter speed. If you're trying to take pictures of fast-action sports, you need a fast shutter speed. Usually, you would manually set the shutter speed, so that you camera knows that you want a fast shutter speed. Otherwise, how else does the camera know that you're taking a photo of fast action? In addition, your camera doesn't offer a "sports" setting, which would be an easy way of taking action photos.
Here are links to some pretty positive reviews for this camera:
In general, DSLR cameras are better for sports & action photos because of the above criteria. However, simply buying a DSLR camera STILL doesn't guarantee great sports / action photos right out of the box. You'd still have to take some time to learn what settings work best for action / sports photography.
Again, point-and-shoot cameras in general do great for easy, everyday, daylight photos. When it comes to more challenging situations like low-light or sports / action photography, point-and-shoot cameras don't do so well.
Even though I don't have any personal experience with your camera, I hope that these general tips can help guide you on things to look for in your camera, especially for action photos.
