digital camera low light shots

[jago]

i saw an advert in one of the sunday magazines recently for a digital camera claiming to be good at low light shots. the advert had three pictures of a girl in bar/restaurant one taken without flash, one with, and one taken with this new camera's low light mode... anyone know the model the advert was for - or recommend a good low light point and shoot digital camera? thanks.

[puggit]

jago said:

i saw an advert in one of the sunday magazines recently for a digital camera claiming to be good at low light shots. the advert had three pictures of a girl in bar/restaurant one taken without flash, one with, and one taken with this new camera's low light mode... anyone know the model the advert was for - or recommend a good low light point and shoot digital camera? thanks.

Bought a Canon PowerShot A710 recently (less then £200 at Jessops).

Because it has a fully manual mode, it allows you to widen the aperture and to leave the shutter open for longer - thus allowing better low-light shots without flash

[Tuna]

A few cameras are claiming new 'low light modes' that basically add up to high ISO settings and a lot of smoothing. Great for casual users, but they don't produce very high quality images.

[jago]

Tuna said:

A few cameras are claiming new 'low light modes' that basically add up to high ISO settings and a lot of smoothing. Great for casual users, but they don't produce very high quality images.

not too worried about quality - just looking for something to take out in evenings on holiday. i think the camera i saw was a finepix f20 - but will look at puggit's suggestion too.

[Nacnud]

dpreview said:

To sum up, the F30 is far and away the best low light compact camera on the market today, bar none. It's the perfect 'social' camera for the DSLR owner who doesn't want to lug all his or her gear to parties, and it is - in expert hands - capable of superb results in any light. I would even go as far as to suggest - funds permitting - getting one for low light work even if you already own a camera you use for daylight shooting...

Now that the F40 has just come out, the F30 has plummeted in value (was £240).
Stunning value - I'm thinking of getting one myself...

[Nacnud]

Ooops - that's the Fujufilm Finepix F30.
Currently £151 on Amazon

[jago]

Nacnud said:

Ooops - that's the Fujufilm Finepix F30.
Currently £151 on Amazon

i think the f20 is pretty much slimmed down f30

[Nacnud]

jago said:

i think the f20 is pretty much slimmed down f30

Hmm - I was overlooking the F20 because it has no Aperture or Shutter priority and ISO can't be pushed as hard. But I've reread the spec and you are right, it's a cracking camera.
£123 Amazon - difference with F30 not so great now the F40 had been released.