Is the camera fast?

[KarlDag]

Title says it all. I have young children that move a lot and I want to take pictures of them indoors. Most phones have trouble focusing fast enough. Is this camera fast?

 

[Rukbat]

Most phones don't autofocus fast, but if you touch the screen where you want it to focus on it's usually a lot faster. But instantaneous autofocus, the way a child can move from 2 feet to 10 feet in the blink of an eye? No. I think you'd need a camera app that lets you set the exposure, and set it for a realy small F-stop, to increase the depth of field. (F-16, focused at 3 feet, should stay in focus from 3 feet to anywhere in a pretty large room in your house.)

 

[JBeef]

Yes and no. Having a dedicated camera button means it's super quick to get from pocket to snapping photos. But I wouldn't say it's particularly quick focusing on moving objects in indoor lighting conditions (although no better or worse than most others). I'd imagine the LG G3 with the laser focus might be better for that (although I've zero experience with it so no idea).
Having said that the timeshift burst app is pretty good. Takes a few shots before you hit the button and after then you can pick best one (at expense of a wee bit of resolution). It's really useful for action shots.

 

[Stwutter]

I've got a 13 month old - obviously he's not quite charging around yet, but I've had no issues catching very good photo's with my Z3 when he's a bit hyper...

JBeef mentioned above about the LG G3 - the laser focus on that was incredible at focusing fast, and the 13mp camera is every bit as good to my eye as the Z3's 20.7mp one. But, IMHO, that's pretty much the only thing on the G3 that bettered the Z3, hence my changing. I guess it depends how important the camera is to you overall against other things such as battery life. The Z3 is still a VERY good camera.