In reply to:
So, do you guys think the Canon S2 or S3 or the Sony H1 (at only 400 ISO) would be fast enough to get me usable shots of swimmers without so much noise that they are unusable? Remember - most of the time we're talking about inside with no flash in a big room. Sometimes the lighting is pretty good (to my untrained eye).
I guess that it depends on what you mean by usable. In my opinion though, no. Lighting is pretty variable indoors. Basically, camera lenses aren’t nearly as good at compensating for light conditions as the human eye. For example, awhile ago I was attempting to take some shots indoors with my Rebel XT and a friends Sigma 18-200mm lens using the sport mode on my camera which increases the shutter speed to freeze the baton twirling action. I was up in the stands and tried to zoom all the way in to fill as much of the frame as possible with my daughter, but the pictures were very dark. So I took my camera outside to play with the settings. It was one of the typical Michigan winter days where the sky is so overcast that the sun doesn’t even try to peek through the clouds. Anyway, outside the shots looked great so there was obviously a bunch more light. I guess that it really depends on the lighting because UofM basketball games seem to be lit pretty well.
Btw, I’ve later learned that even with the Sigma 18-200mm lens, I can compensate for poor lighting somewhat by switching to manual mode on the camera and adjusting the ISO and aperture settings. Still, there’s no substitute for good lighting or big lenses.
This is the lens that I now covet for those indoor action shots from the stands.
Canon Telephoto EF 300mm f/4.0L IS Image Stabilizer USM Autofocus Lens. It is *very* expensive though – at least to me. You can get some nice 200mm Sigmas for half the price that would probably do a nice job too.
