What's best for fast shots of always moving two year old? So

[jkreines]

I need a new digicam. I will use it mostly for taking unposed pics of my fast moving 2-year old. As I see it, most important is:

1. No shutter lag (kids move fast!)
2. Good shots indoors, even dim lighting
3. Good pics on auto (no time to adjust it)
4. Image quality
5. Hopefully less than $400 (what I can aford)
6. Hopefully very portable -- if possible, pocketable.

I have eliminated Cannon A85 and related and all CAnons - all seem to have bad lag.

I like the Pana DMC-FZ3. Don't need higher MPs. Don't like it not being pocketable, but it feels better in the hand as a result. BUT DOES IT LAG? I see conflicting info on different review sites which I trust. Steve has a very quick number -- others say it is slower. To the degree I could try it at CircCity, it seemed slower.

Sonys seem to have least lag. I like the DSC-W1. But it is said to favor, on auto, longer exposure times, producing blurry moving objects -- unless you manually adjust it, which would take time (especially w/o a shutter priority mode).

Does anyone have advice? Does the FZ3 lag more than the Sonys? Do all Sonys (dsc-v1, dsc-p100?) share the preference for longer exposures? Does that make it hard to get good results on Auto indoors?

thanks!

[MikDee]

Check out the Fugi S5100

[jkreines]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure why most of the reviewers recommend the FZ3 as the best of the cameras in this class, but they do.

AS for me, I'd rather not get something this large unless it was perfect for my needs.

And the S5100 isn't: Lag w/ af was measured btw .83 and .98 seconds -- way too slow for me. Tests by:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S5100/S51DATA.HTM

Steve says .6 seconds, but this is more than twice the time he measures for the Sonys and the FZ3.

[MikDee]

Yeah, but check out the shutter lag prefocus 0.55!,,, besides that don't tell you the whole story, you gotta get out there and try the cameras for "feel" and see what works for you.

[jkreines]

Thanks for reminding me of my other question:

HOW CAN ONE TRY OUT THESE CAMERAS????