I’m new to DSLR photography and I’m just wondering what the benefits of fast exposure are over a burst of pics?

I’m thinking in terms of photographing fast moving objects like sporting pics etc . I’ve found it extremely difficult to time the pics correctly and it just seems easier to use the burst function I used to use on a compact.

is that so you get several chances of catching a crap photo of the subject ?

there are techniques that come with practice – photography is not one of those things you can just plough money into kit and expect to get great results straight away.

when i was touring and taking 30/40 photos a day and taking my time over them as oppose to pointing and shooting my photography skills got loads better – even now i notice that the photos i take are much crapper even with the same camera !

burst takes a few sequential photos.

A short exposure is unrelated – you can take sequential photos each using a short exposure.

The short exposure means that have a better chance of freezing motion. However you can sttil “freeze” motion with longer exposures if your panning and tracking technique is good enough

would suggest you concentrate more on your timing, it’s still possible to take crap photos using burst.

Sorry to sound dismissive, but don’t really have time to go into detail at the moment, at work.

Read this, and I’ll try to come back later to see what other people have said

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/3215247995/mountain-bike-photography-technique

Practice.
If you want to go the burst route, why not but an HD video camera and select the shot you want?

You need a fast exposure to capture a fast moving subject, so that it doesn’t move much when the shutter is open and therefore doesn’t blur.

Burst just means lots of pictures close together. If the subject is moving then the burst exposures still need to be fast shutter speed.

Often you don’t want a really fast exposure on a fast moving subject. Too fast and the subject is frozen and doesn’t actually look like it’s moving…..
As above, panning on the subject using a lower shutter speed will get you better results.
I tend to pre-focus on a point where the subject will be passing – e.g. apex of a corner on a race track, so the camera doesn’t have to sort out focus when I press the shutter. I will then track the subject way before it gets to where I intend to take the picture, so the camera is moving in a steady arc and then press the shutter at the point I had focussed on earlier. It’s important to keep moving the camera while pressing the shutter and afterwards too; think of a long arc starting before you press the shutter and ending after the exposure is complete.

I used to use continuous shooting for certain things, but this still doesn’t guarantee that the timing will match up to how you want it.

Practicing your timing will pay dividends, rather than sticking it in continuous and holding the shutter down.