I think you'd be disappointed. I'm assuming you're taking about ice hockey. It's arguably the hardest sport out there to shoot, with the possible exception of swimming. The white ice surface belies the typically dim lighting conditions. NHL games will have brighter lighting for TV, but it's still not as bright as you'd expect at most rinks. You need fast shutter speeds to freeze action, which require high ISO values and a very large aperture lens. The F717 isn't bad in this respect, but certainly not great. The autofocusing, shutter lag, iffy continuous mode and relatively short telephoto are going to hurt you in sports. The 10D, by comparison (and still considered lacking by pros for sports) has ISO values up to 3200 and the 3200 is about comparable to ISO 800 on the F717 with regards to noise levels. ISO 800 on the 10D is about as noisy as ISO 100 on the F717.
If you can't swing a DSLR, the F717 is probably the best choice due to the faster maximum aperture of the lens. Might be a good idea to consider the Canon 300D, though it has a worse continuous mode than the 10D (better than the F717 though) or wait until the F828 is out. It'll still be lacking, but will be better than the F717 for your needs as it can shoot RAW and therefore will allow you to adjust white balance and other settings afterwards. In sports situations it's nice to not have to worry about things like white balance etc. until afterwards. White balance is really important in hockey. If the ice doesn't look white, it's really noticeable. The F828 also has a longer zoom, and apparently less shutter lag. |