I had a samsung digimax 201 as a first camera but it was broken. I noticed with that camera there was a short delay from the time you pushed the shutter button and when the picture was actually taken, even without flash. Another thing is that when taking action pictures they wouldn't be very clear. I would like to get a camera that takes good action shots and has a extremely short delay if any. I have been looking at a camera around $200 and 3 megapixels. Does anyone have any experience with the Sony 3.2 MP Cyber-shot DSC-P32, the P52, the Fujifilm 3.2 MP FinePix A330, or any other cameras in this range. Is thre an advantage to manual focus? When I read the specifications on cameras when they say maximum and minumum shutter speed, what is that for, and is it adjustable?
Heres a blurry action pic with my old camera, this is what i don't want.

All point-and-shoot dig cams have "shutter lag", some worse than others. Check the reviews to compare different cameras. Blur in action pics is caused by slow shutter speed, and really can only be avoided by fast (expensive) lenses. You're not really going to find what you are looking for in the $200 range. Sorry, but that's just how it is. You can avoid some blur in action shots if you "pan" the camera in the direction of the action, but it takes practice. And manual focus really helps to avoid shutter lag, as the camera doesn't need to take time focusing..that's most of what causes shutter lag.

thanks rob, If the sony's have the manual focus that would help though, right?Because they are in my price range and seem like a decent camera, and they have the manual focus feature.

I think all of them have manual focus option.

If you are looking for online reviews, you should check out any ofthe following sites:

Steve's Digicams
Imaging Resource
Digital Camera Resource Page

I've used all of these pages when researching my last digital cam. You want to pay attention to "shutter lag time" when reading these reviews.

I bought a Canon Powershot S400 (Digital Elph). I couldn't be happier with it!! It takes excellent pics, has low lag time, excellent battery life, and it's very small. You can't go wrong with any of the Canon Digital Elph series, my sister has the S320, and it is also an excellent camera.

Good luck!!

Hang on, hang on! There are some new cameras that just came onto the market this month that all but eliminate the shutter lag.

I read an article in the New York Times earlier this week listing the new Kyocera SL400R and Casio Exilim EX-P600 as two new cameras that reduce the shutter lag to less than 0.07 seconds.

I know nothing about these cameras in person, but I would imagine that the technology and processor power to reduce the shutter speed will find its way into the other mainstream cameras soon.

Here's a link to the NYTimes article. You might have to register to read it, but the registration is free.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/17/technolo...its/17stat.html

You can probably look these cameras up on the respective manufacturer's website, or the review sites listed prior.

Joe

Thanks for all the info guys, I went for the Sony P-32 because the price was right and it seemed like a good camera from reviews. The P-32 seems to be much better than my old one, the shutter lag seems to be good because you can push the shutter button half way down for it to focus. It has so many more options than my old one, I am almost glad I broke the other one.lol. The video is a lot better than my old one too, it has audio and the quality is twice as good. It has a snow setting so that should be good for the high flying moments that I want to capture this coming winter.... Already built a jump to set up somewhere for the winter.

Thanks Again Guys

i recommend Nikon D60