I find my current camera's shutter speed is too slow for those moving shots of mates riding… everything is a little blurry.

What's the very best current compact/slim digital camera with fast shutter speed for sports photography, but also great quality pictures?

might it just be that you have the ISO set too low?

No – the camera is poop!

It's also shabby and broken, so in need of a new one anyway…

Before you spend money on a new camera:

– are you pre-focussing by pressing the button down until you feel resistance (usually the camera will bleep) to let it get the shot set up? Do that with it pointing at where you expect the subject to be, keep it held down then when the subject is where you want it, press a bit further to take the shot.

– does your camera have a sports mode (usually a running figure in the menus)?

– does it have any manual controls, especially over ISO settings? In low light (esp under tree cover) the camera wants more light so will force the shutter speed to be longer otherwise the pic will be too dark. This can be counteracted by increasing the ISO setting (more light sensitivity at the expense of graininess) or more aperture (a bigger opening in the lens, but with a narrower depth of field, so focussing has to be spot-on).

Sorry if it's stuff you already know, but I see way too many people mash away at the shutter release with all settings on auto then complain their camera is "too slow" and misses the shot. 10 mins reading the manual can bring a huge improvement in your pics – just about any camera from the big names in the last 5 years will be able to take reasonable action shots in normal lighting conditions. Spend money on a new camera and mash away on the buttons and you'll still be taking poor shots.

You need one with a sport mode. You won't need more than 1/100. Or you could learn to pan.

+1 to all that.

The maximum speed of your shutter is unlikely to be the limitting factor here unless the camera is truly dire.

It's not the shutter speed of your camera that's the problem. Most cameras can do very fast speeds.

The issue is the amount of light that gets into the camera. If the aperture is too small or the sensor not sensitive enough, then it'll have to use a longer shutter speed to compensate.

However, newer compact cameras have much better fancy electronics and programming, to allow you to take much better action shots just by pointing and shooting. Often you have to select a 'sport' or 'action' setting to tell it what you want to do but that's it.

Chances are though that "Sports" mode may not give you the shot you want as it will typically attempt to freeze the action with a very fast shutter speed and flash.

Good sometimes, but it can turn your fast action shot of your mate railing a berm into a static shot of a bloke on a bike.

canon have just released a couple of "HS" compacts (high speed) with 1/3500 shutter speeds i think
http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/cameras/digital_camera/ixus/ixus_300_hs/index.aspx?source=selector

1/3500s??

The OP is trying to get shots of his mates riding, not a bullet in mid-flight!

He wants a fast shutter speed, he can have it

This is STW. We have already determined that the OP doesn't really want what he asked for and told him what he really needs. Do try to keep up 😀

P.S. anyone care to do the maths to determine how brightly lit the subject would need to be to allow you to use that 1/3500 at a low ISO and normal aperture? I'm guessing quite a bit brighter than a typical forest!

he just needs to buy a trout light too 🙂

Many thanks guys….

that ixus looks quite good, nice slow motion movie mode for biking vids too