A70 replacement/upgrade recommendations

[billh101]

I need to replace my almost dead A70, but want some upgrades and wanted your opinions. For starters, the shutter lag has been driving me crazy on the A70. I'm very happy with the image quality, but just can't catch the peak of action shots like I want to, so I need something more responsive. Here's what I've considered: The SD300 sounds fast and the 30fps 640x480 video sounds nice, but I'd lose manual controls and fear image quality may not be as good. The S70 has a nice wide angle lens, RAW mode, and would use my existing CF memory, but I don't think it would be any faster than my A70 was. The Sony DSC-W1 looks pretty nice and has the high quality video mode, but I've heard that people have to shoot on manual indoors to get sharp shots, because it defaults to too slow of a shutter speed with the flash. I need something that my wife can grab and just power on to take quick shots of the kids, yet will allow me to do some creative shooting with as well. I think I could enjoy most of the S70 features, but I need speed. Help! I'm so confused! Thanks, Bill

[Moppie]

Forget the W1, I used one last night, and if you think the A70 is slow, the W1 will drive you insane.
It was taking 2-3 seconds to autofocus and set exposure, then there was a good .5 of a second between pressing the shutter button, and actualy taking the photo.

A new A95 will be faster then your old A70, and there are tricks to making them faster.
For example setting the white balance and ISO yourself can considerably cut down on focus and metering times.

If speed is what you really really need then you really need to move up to something like a G series, or preferably a proper D-SLR.
The G series has the advantage of stilling being a compact camera, and will be significantly faster than an A series, or S series. An SLR is of course a whole differnt story, and real step in both cost and size etc.

However Iv found that useing burst mode on my A80 has enabled me to get some great action shots, especialy if I pre-focus.

[spelchek]

However Iv found that useing burst mode on my A80 has enabled me to get some great action shots, especialy if I pre-focus.

What is 'burst mode'... im aan A85 owner, but cannot find referance to this mode...

[Moppie]

I think canon calls its highspeed, if you press function then move down to "drive mode" its there with the self timer modes.

My A80 has two speeds, normal and high, normal is about 2-3 per second, and high is about 3-4 I think.

[Bodryn]

In addition to the above advice, I have found that setting manual focus ahead of time really helps with the speed, if you know in advance at what distance the subject will be.