whats the best camera for fast action photos?

Question

need a camera, be it digital or film (digital prefered), for concerts and other such quick action shows. excellent for night/poorly lighted rooms. suggestions on what to look for in a camera or suggestion on camera names themselves is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Low-light and night photography is more a function of the lens than the camera. Of course you have to have a camera that allows full manual operation, a shutter* with either "B" or "T" settings and the use of a mechanical cable release. You also have to know what settings to use and when. That is why I so often refer to my FotoSharp (fotosharp.com) 'Day & Night Exposure Guide'.

Here are some examples from it:

Home interiors, average light, school stage/auditorium:

At ISO 400

f2.8 @ 1/15 sec.
f4 @ 1/8 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/4 sec.

At ISO 800

f2.8 @ 1/30 sec.
f4 @ 1/15 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/8 sec.

At ISO 1600

f2.8 @ 1/60 sec.
f4 @ 1/30 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/15 sec.

At ISO 3200

f2.8 @ 1/125 sec.
f4 @ 1/60 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/30 sec.

Now lets look at Sports, stadium lights:

At ISO 400

f2.8 @ 1/125 sec.
f4 @ 1/60 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/30 sec.

At ISO 800

f2.8 @ 1/250 sec.
f4 @ 1/125 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/60 sec.

By now you should know that if we double the ISO again our shutter speeds will double. (At ISO 1600 @ f2.8 shutter speed will be 1/500).

How about for indoor sports, circus - floodlit?

At ISO 400

f2.8 @ 1/60 sec.
f4 2 1/30 sec.
f5.6 @ 1/15 sec.

You can extrapolate from here with higher ISO's.

Suppose we're in a dimly lit nightclub?

At ISO 400

f2.8 @ 1/2 sec.
f4 @ 1 sec.
f5.6 @ 2 sec.

At ISO 3200 our shutter speed at f2.8 will be 1/15 sec.

What if we want to photograph the city skyline in the distance?

At ISO 200

f4 @ 4 sec.
f5.6 @ 8 sec.
f8 @ 15 sec.
f11 @ 30 sec.

Since we have our camera mounted on a tripod and using a cable release to hold the shutter open on "T" or "B" higher ISO's aren't needed. Additionally, since lenses perform best at between f5.6 to f11 we don't need super fast lenses.

If you can find a vantage point** overlooking a busy highway with the city skyline in the background you can create "light trails" - headlights will be white streaks, taillights will be red streaks and the city skyline will be sharp and properly exposed.

You can also create interesting effects by composing at, perhaps, 70mm and then carefully zooming in to 200mm. You have to be very smooth when doing this so as to not shake the camera.

* If your shutter allows exposures of at least 15 seconds you won't need a cable release. You can use the camera's self-timer.

** Try to avoid areas with a lot of ambient light. If you simply can't find such a location, use a lens hood (made for your particular lens) and cover the viewfinder with a piece of black cloth.

Answer 2

You need to get a dSLR. Look into getting a Nikon D40 or D40x, or Canon 300D. The cost for these brand new will be above $600, so if you're on a budget look to get a used Nikon D70 or D100 from eBay.