A digital SLR camera is a “must have” piece of equipment to effectively capture sports action. Digital SLRs do two essential things to sports photography that most point and shoot, non-SLR cameras do not.

Capturing Sports Action with a Digital SLR

1. DSLRs fire almost immediately when you press the shutter release button. This low shutter lag time is important when you’re trying to capture the soccer  action just when the action is occurring.
2. DSLRs also are able to quickly shoot again after you take a shot of the action. Since sports action generally occurs in spurts, having the ability to take a photo one moment, then quickly take another photo is very important for really good sports photography.

Even the more advanced and more expensive point and shoot digital cameras with long zoom lenses don’t have the performance that’s necessary for most sports photography.

Another key attribute of the DSLR is the ability to attach different lenses to the camera body for different purposes. Think of the lens as the eyes of your digital camera. Through the use of various lenses on your DSLR you’ll be able to get close to the action even when you’re physically not close to the action. You can capture sports images where the subject is perfectly in focus, but the background is blurred like you see in sports magazines. You’ll even be able to take photos of sports action in low light conditions like very overcast days, at night under stadium lights, or indoors with indoor lighting.

Even if all you’re looking for is action photography of your 6 year-old playing youth soccer, you’ll be very disappointed if you don’t start your sports photography journey with a digital SLR camera.