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What is the best SLR camera to buy for a new user?

I've been looking to update my 5 year fujifilm digital camera. I take a lot of action shots of my kids during sports in daylight and at night and have noticed the night ones are a bit blurry. There is like a haze around their bodies. Would an SLR camera take clearer shots at night. I've had a look online at the nikon d40 and nikon L100. My budget is around $800 australian or cheaper. Would love to hear of any info.

Public Comments

1. I think canon because more function and easy to use but if you want to see more for decide you can see here more model for choose and cheap too. [astore.amazon.com/best-inexpensive- digital-camera-low-price-20]
2. Max, may I call you max... I'm Jim. I don't know how much photography, true photography experience you've had. I've been at it for 30+ years in television news and now in stills as a hobby and some pro. No camera will do the kind of night shots your talking about unless you run the ISO up so high that you'll get gain noise (the white specks). And even then you will get some blur. Your camera, any camera, works on light. In the dark it will hold the shutter open longer than usual trying to gather that light. While the shutter is open every thing that moves is seen by the sensor or film and shows up as blur. Here's an example of blur - done for effect. I did this at a small fair a couple of weeks ago. My shutter was open for 4-seconds and I used a tripod - the only way to get night shots. I put a 10-second delay on my shutter. As soon as I'd clicked the shutter button I pulled my hands away from the camera and let it do its thing. That's why the guy standing at the ride is so clear because he didn't move. The ride gave me the effect I wanted. The clouds as well weren't moving very much. - are you getting the point here? That being that if anything in your field of view, during a night shot is moving, you'll have blur. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsphotostuff/3781881942/sizes/l/ Day light shots run your shutter speed up to 1/500 or 1/1000 and your shots should be crisp - providing you give your camera something to grab focus on. Action shots, no matter, are always iffy and difficult to do well. High speed shots (the fast shutter above) is the simplest way to get daylight action but at night... another animal all together. By the by, I love your country and would love to visit but $$ - well not enough of it. Oh, and I use a Rebel XS (1000D) by Canon
3. most if not all DSLRs have a "full auto mode" where the camera takes care of everything, all you need to do is point and shoot. this is to hold your hand as you advance into photography, then you can move into a programmed auto mode, and eventually full manual (for those tricky shots)
4. Set it to flash mode, cancel the anti-red-eye and increase ISO to reduce blur in night action shots. If there is no flash mode, use ISO priority or shutter priority. Set ISO to 400 or above and shutter to the maximum flash sync, around 1/500s and use flash with the anti-red-eye. The anti-red eye will make the flash fire more than once so in action shots, that would produce blur if not ghosting. You can see that even when using a dSLR, if you don't set it up properly, you'll still get crappy shots. If you still want to have a new dSLR, consider only from Canon, Nikon and Pentax. They all make exceptional dSLRs due to their long experience in camera making. Canon generally makes better lenses, Nikon is more technologically update while Pentax is more backward compatible with all of its lenses ever made.
5. Seems to me like you've already found some really good cameras. the d40 receives excellent reviews: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KJQ1DG?ie=UTF8&tag=clogui-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000KJQ1DG L100 is a little lower price, but not as good / doesn't receive as good reviews. Can't go wrong with the d40. But here is my personal suggestion: http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref%255F%3Dnb%255Fss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Dcanon%2520slr%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Daps&tag=clogui-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957 Get a canon rebel SLR. I'm a surf photographer, so take a lot of daylight action shots. It's an amazing camera. I do some night photography also, and haven't noticed any blurry-ness.
6. If you are really on a budget and want the best quality for the money, check out the P&S Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 [with a Leica lense and Live View] which has more features than most pro DSLRs that require auxiliary lenses not even equal to the single initial full-range lense that comes with the FZ28. It is reviewed at: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2008_reviews/panasonic_fz28_pg5.html It's an all-in-one 10.1 megapixel digital camera which includes (i) built-in image stabilization and Live Action viewer; (ii) HD720 quality video [Quicktime] which permits zooming while videoing skateboarding, action sports; (iii) a 18x zoom [27 - 486 mm (35mm equiv.)] "Leica" lense for nature and concert photography; (iv) up to 0.39 inch macro option; (v) up to 6400 ASA; (vi) takes up to 380 pictures per 120 min. battery charge; (vii) has a "burst speed" of 13 fps; and sells new for $464 at amazon.com. in the U.S. Here's an actual handheld picture of the moon: http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/bf/1b/a83ac060ada0881604bad110.L.jpg Good luck!