Point n Shoot for low light

[Rotary8]

Can anyone recommend a decent $200-$300 PnS with good low light performance? It has to be a good camera overall, the low light thing would help. My wife thinks my d300 w/17-55 is kinda heavy, plus I don't like giving my SLR to other people to shoot group pics for us.

Please post sample pics if possible. thanks,

 

[achman]

Fuji F100fd

This is truly the only option. Read the reviews, I have one and up to 800iso it is fine. The Panasonics suck, and the Canon G7 is mediocre and more $. I also had a FujiF30 and it was great too.

Can anyone recommend a decent $200-$300 PnS with good low light performance? It has to be a good camera overall, the low light thing would help. My wife thinks my d300 w/17-55 is kinda heavy, plus I don't like giving my SLR to other people to shoot group pics for us.

Please post sample pics if possible. thanks,

 

[Grimace]

Because of the small sensor size in P&S cameras, the low-light performance sucks. The form factor is the hurdle, not the brand.

Most will jack up the ISO for you (without control) and most will require the flash in anything but daylight photography.

 

[Rotary8]

I have my d300 for low light. I just need something that's fairly decent indoors with enough lighting. I'm not afraid to use flash on PnS.

 

[GoCubsGo]

What is your budget? Have you looked into the Leica D-Lux models?

 

[ChrisA]

I have my d300 for low light. I just need something that's fairly decent indoors with enough lighting. I'm not afraid to use flash on PnS.

Optical slaves work well on P&S cameras. This is a stand alone flash that is triggered by the smaller flash that is built-in to the P&S. The advantage of the slave is that it is much bigger but more importantly you can aim it at a wall or ceiling. These are not very expensive

If you want good low light abilty in a P&S look for one with fewer pixels. a 6MP camera is about right. It's hard to get good advice on P&S camera because the modles change so fast. so just go by the specs. Look for a "small" number of pixels and a good f/2.8 or faster lens

 

[OreoCookie]

It depends on what you mean by `good': no P&S will come close to a dslr. I'd just go for a small 6-7 MP P&S. I helped pick an Olympus for my best friend, and she loves it. You can give it to people and they know how to use it (always find the shutter release, although they always ask where it is on my D80 -- the shiny button, it's the shiny button ).

 

[pinktank]

g9 is pretty nice with that albeit a little heavy on your wallet

 

[theSeaHawk]

Most will jack up the ISO for you (without control) and most will require the flash in anything but daylight photography.

Neither my Canon A540 or A620 does either; you can manually set the ISO to the lowest setting (80) and it stays there. As to the flash, just about every P/S digital camera I've seen allows you to defeat the flash. You will have to provide for longer exposures and keep the camera steady; if you want to shoot handheld, though, you'll have to increase the ISO and deal with the noise.

 

[147798]

Can anyone recommend a decent $200-$300 PnS with good low light performance? It has to be a good camera overall, the low light thing would help. My wife thinks my d300 w/17-55 is kinda heavy, plus I don't like giving my SLR to other people to shoot group pics for us.

Please post sample pics if possible. thanks,

More than your budget, but look at the Canon G9, and also the upcoming Panasonic LX3. This is looking like it will be a good low-light camera. Google for it to learn more. Both are over $400, though.

 

[santa]

one major consideration

I don't know the P&S market but if I were looking for a low light model I'd limit my search to those with image stabilization. Good optical IS will get you two to four stops of improvement in hand holding which will in turn allow you to use lower ISO , all things being equal. P&S's in general range from tiny to those merging into dSLR like cameras and the larger and faster the lens the better. There is no silver bullet but do take IS into account in which ever model you look at. I do know that the Canon G9 is pretty much THE pocket camera used by serious photographers who need a good, small camera. It has been end-of-lifed from what I have heard so the G10 should be around the corner. I have thought long and hard about that one myself as I struggle to open a Pelican case on a raft to grab a dSLR going down a river....

 

[147798]

I don't know the P&S market but if I were looking for a low light model I'd limit my search to those with image stabilization. Good optical IS will get you two to four stops of improvement in hand holding which will in turn allow you to use lower ISO , all things being equal. P&S's in general range from tiny to those merging into dSLR like cameras and the larger and faster the lens the better. There is no silver bullet but do take IS into account in which ever model you look at. I do know that the Canon G9 is pretty much THE pocket camera used by serious photographers who need a good, small camera. It has been end-of-lifed from what I have heard so the G10 should be around the corner. I have thought long and hard about that one myself as I struggle to open a Pelican case on a raft to grab a dSLR going down a river....

Agreed on IS -- look for lens-based IS, not electronic image stabilization nor CCD-based IS. Lens-based is best. (still, check out the LX3. See some threads here: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1033&thread=28812193

 

[santa]

lens based

When searching for IS, I have never heard the term lens-based but it may also be common. My reference to "optical image stabilization" referred to the same thing. Optical, or perhaps lens based is the phrase to look for.

 

[lasuther]

Consider picking up a Olympus E410 DSLR (I just bought the new E420). It is slightly larger than a P&S and the E410 with kit lens is running about $400. Or add the pancake lens for a super small DLSR set up that will handle low light pictures significantly better than a P&S.

I paid $800 for my E420 and a couple of nice lenses (pancake and a telephoto zoom) from a local dealer. The previous model can be found a cheap prices right now. In auto mode with live view, it acts just like a P&S for other people to take shots but the pictures are so much better. Check out some of the reviews online.

The picture below is of the E420 with pancake and the Canon 450D from a www.cameralabs.com review.