Advice on new camera

[skuba]

Hi,
I was thinking about buying the S400. It's so compact!
But then I saw there are no adjustments for shutter or exposure priority, as weell as No manual focus.
The main reason I think this is bad for me is because I sometiems take pictures of sports. Nit hi-speed like car races, but sports like mountain biking, snowboarding, etc...
By my experience if there is no manual focus, I've to wait the auto focus to work, and this delays the shot a lot.
How fast does the auto focus work for this camera? Do you think it would work for let's say take an instant shot of a snowboarding manouver?

Would you recommend another camera?

Thanks

[platinumdoc]

The S400 is not too good for action unless you prefocus. Try the Digital Rebel if you want to do action photography.

[pix0r]

If you want to take it snowboarding (and you're not planning on devoting your day on the mountain to *only* shooting photos) you won't want a camera as big and fragile as the digital rebel or any other slr.. I'd say the S400 is perfect for that type of use. I've found that even my S45 is a bit bulky to carry around in your pocket, and I've had a few close calls with it too..

[stopbath]

To time your shot well, you'll need to prefocus (push the shutter button down a bit until it focuses and gets exposure.) Keep the button slightly compressed while you recompose and/or wait for the event to happen. Release the shutter at the correct time to capture the moment. It may take a few practice runs to get the timing just right...

I find the A70 (it has manual focus, manual exposure...) that while larger and less slim, still fits well into a coat pocket (while in a case). Becareful of exposure to snow, as water can easily destroy your cameras ability to work well.