Glenn Wolsey said:
I really want to get into sports photography, but don't know what would be a suitable camera to purchase? I want to use it with Aperture, or Lightroom software.
The sports will be cricket (like baseball), and rugby. I would also like it for aviation photography.
What do you think would be best for a 13 year old on a medium budget? (Medium being $200-550)
For your use you __absolutly__ need an SLR. Any of the point and shoot cameras will have what they call "shutter lag". That's where you push the shuter releae and it takes some time (from 0.25 to 2 seconds) before the shutter trips. This is not an issue in many takes of photography, say comercial product shots or family snapshots but you specifically said "sports" and in sports THE key element is catching the EXACT moment. tenths of seconds to late (or to early) is a missed shot. You will also need a lens that is fast and long. an 80-200 f/2.8 (note the constant f-ratio) is a common sports lens.
When I was 13 in the early 1970's I had the same interrests and budget and was able to get a pretty good system. I bough a Minolta SRT100 and shot black and white film. You can buy film in 100ft lenghts (one exposure takes 1.5 inches, do the math) The equipment needed to process film and make contact sheets is cheap. In sports photography you only print maybe one in 20 shots. In today's world I assume everyone would scan negitives and print on inkjets.
You can do professional quality work with a used 35mm SLR. Scan the negs into iPhoto, have the prints made by some Internet based service. The same money applied to a new digital camera will not get get a DSRL. for $500 you'd be limited to a small point and shoot. A minimal DSRL setup with a fast zoom lens is going to set you back over $2K. But profesional quality used film based system is right in the center of you budget range.
Buy a used 35mm SRL but be sure and get one where you can use the lenses you buy on a digital SRL later. Canon makes this easy. An ond Canon film body can be had for $100 and the EOS system lenses will fit a digital body when you can aford one.
Glenn Wolsey said:
I want to use it with Aperture, or Lightroom software.
..... for a 13 year old on a medium budget? (Medium being $200-550)
The software is to expensive. Not only that but it is targeted at allowing a profesional for whom "time is money" to save a few hours in post production, The above software is called "workflow" because it speeds up workflow. If you are 13 you likely don't have the time pressures of a professional.
Also with such a small budget you should look at "gimp"
http://www.gimp.org
Gimp is an image editor with a featur set between PS elements and CS
but the big thing is that it si free, no cost. I actually prefer Gimp's user
interface to PS. It takes time to learn but I think Gimp is cleaner and
it is certainly faster than PS.
Save you money for "good glass" it's the lens that takes the picture. Sports
photographers typically spend much more on lenses then on cameras and
for good reason: it's the lens that takes the picture.