digital camera for low light

[sahnert]

I have been using an olympus d-560 for a couple of years. For a basic point and shoot I am impressed with the color quality of most of my shots. But as a musician I take a lot of shots in low light settings where a flash just ruins the shot and the no-flash pictures are to blurry (motion of subject). I would like to upgrade in the near future. I think a digital SLR is out of my price range (and I don't really have time to learn to use it well), so I am looking for a digital camera in the $250-350 range that preferably:

a) has a decent optical zoom
b) can take colorful, sharp picture in low light conditions
and
c)Olympus would be nice because I have spent a bit of money on xD cards already - but willing to consider other brands.

Maybe a product in this price range doesn't exist, but if you have any ideas or suggestions please share.

Thanks a bunch

 

[fundamental]

take a look at the finepix E900. i bought this camera for christmas and i love it. it thas a 'natural light' setting which adjusts the F-stop/shutter/ISO to take photos without flash. i have never used it once since i bought it, even in very-very low light conditions.

its a 9MP camera & it can go to a usable ISO 800, with great colours and full manual controls.

fuji RAW format is a bit tricky & not supported by the Adobe CS RAW plugin yet. I saw yet because Adobe Lightroom beta does. A software called RAW Developer converts fuji RAW with good results. i actually prefer to use the bundled FUJI RAW converter, which converts your image to full-res TIFF (no control over the conversion) as it produces less noisy images that lightroom and RAW Dev. I then work the image using PS.

the fuji F10 is also a similar quality 6MP camera that goes up to ISO 1600, minus the manual controls & RAW.

check out http://www.dpreview.com/ for more technical analysis & to see how fuji's grain @ ISO 800 & 1600 blows most non-SLR digicams out of the water.

however best you can do with any digicam is to try-before-you-buy. get it from somewhere with a good refund policy. i bought mine from henry's which gave me a 14 day refund & 30 day exchange.

both fujis use xD.

good luck & rock on : )

EDIT: realised that the E900 might be out of your price range. the F10 goes for around $300-350.

 

[sahnert]

Those both look like they would be a justifiable upgrade from my current camera. I am not opposed to spending a bit more money, but I don't know a lot about cameras so I am trying to find the balance between features and learning curve.

Thanks for your help!

 

[hikingnclimbing]

I have the same kind of problems that you have and, short of just using a tripod, I'd imagine that you'd have similar problems no matter what the camera. I've seen ads for the Panasonic cameras with image stabalization. The low-end model is the DMC-FX01K. I don't have any experience with it myself, but it might be the right sort of thing to look into.

Good luck!