So, I collected a few excellent guides or tutorials which provide good summaries (I think) of the possibilities of these cameras when it comes to autofocus or AF.

• How to use autofocus with moving subjects (all brands)
• Action photography: AF modes (for Nikon cameras)
• Canon 5D Mark III: Autofocus (AI Servo) for Birds in Flight
• Understanding Canon EOS 1DX Autofocus
• Sony A6000 and A5100 Autofocus Guide
• Sony: Autofocus (AF) modes

Good reading!

photo credit: Tarun K Photography

Then, there is only one solution: Be prepared!

• Explore the location: Know where you go, use Google Maps and Google Earth to discover the topography, the terrain, the location of monuments, roads and streets leading from one place to another.
• Orient yourself: the same tools will allow to see on what side you want to go to make the back-lit photos you want or to have the best angle at sun rise.
• Let inspiration come to you: There is nothing wrong in using Flickr to know what the other travelers have brought back from the place you don’t know yet. Discover the usual pictures that everybody gets and find some that are less common or more surprising : You’ll get the images that everybody expect back at home and a few good surprises too (even if you will not stay long enough to explore all aspects of a single subject).

But there is also a mean to speed preparation up and to go much further: Get a guide. It has many advantages:

• A guide knows every square meter of your destination: You will never be as prepared as he is.
• Choose a guide who knows what photography is. Most will only lead you to the place. This is even more important for difficult photo subjects like a safari photo trip: Your guide must be able to place himself (or place the car) at the right location, he will have to accept to stay longer in one location, near one animal; He should accept to leave early and stay late on the spot. You will avoid most of the tourist-run places. for this, the best is to find photo-oriented travel agents or to talk to the guide (even using Skype).

photo credit: SPM435
• You will be able to concentrate on photography without worrying too much about the rest (he’s not a body guard, but you shouldn’t have to keep an eye on your back and on your bag while you shoot).
• In some cases, the guide is the only mean to reach some locations: He’s the key to some religious ceremonies, to isolated places, to off-road tracks only accessible under precise conditions, etc.

Nevertheless, also think about keeping time to breathe, to think and to take the place in. Don’t stick to eye to the viewfinder all day long. Look around, widen your personal landscape. If your traveling with your family, also bring them into the photo business: I recommend making sure that everybody has a camera and you dispense some advice and make sure children participate (for example, a friend of mine had a real golden wooden frame that kids would use to frame themselves with monuments during specific photo games).

This is a great idea for Mothers Day or Fathers Day: A point-and-shoot photo camera to snap pictures of the kids and grand-kids. But how do we pick the best one? There are thousands of them, the largest brands launch new models each and every week. So, let’s follow simple rules (They’re always the best ones).

A nice lens

Whatever the other qualities of a photo camera, I can’t repeat it enough: The lens is critical. The digital sensor may have millions of pixels, in a mobile phone, the poor plastic bit that is sold as a lens is the limiting factor.

Watch for cameras whose lens opens wide (it may be f/2.8 or f/4 maximum) because this allows to shoot with less light. If it feels useful, the zoom amplitude may be worth looking at, but the widest amplitudes generally go with (relatively) bad quality. On the opposite, a short focal length (35mm or 28mm, as film equivalent) is also a safe way to shoot a good picture when there is not enough space to move back. All this will secure a good image success rate in the usual conditions of a kid’s birthday party or a family dinner.

Cute or robust?

The compact photo camera market has progressively split itself between small jewel-like cameras (often quite fragile) and more robust cameras (whose appearance makes them far less cute).

You will have to choose depending on the desired size (according to the person who will receive the gift) and the kind of use (a grand-dad may not lend his camera as easily to a young kid depending on the kind of camera).

LCD comfort

The next most important item is the LCD screen on the back of all the point-and-shoot cameras. This display must be as readable as possible, even in the sun light. This is never completely true (the right technology is just not there yet) even if the OLED displays are not far from perfection. But if you can test and compare at the door of the shop, you will immediately see which one to choose.

The digital sensor

Finally, you can have a look at the image sensor. The best solution is still to have a very large-sized sensor (usually described as APS-C format or SLR-size sensor). In this case, the camera is slightly bigger but the image quality is notably improved. You’ll get a sensor normally found in a Digital SLR photo camera.

With all this, you’re ready to go and pay a visit to the windows of the point-and-shoot camera shops in your city. Just in time for Mothers Day and Fathers Day.