Good Low Light/ Party / Compact Camera

[rithwick]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking to buy two digital cameras I am looking for the following features in them

1. Good in Low light
2. Compact
3. Good at at least ISO 400
4. Provides some kind of mannual control.

I have been looking around and have the following camera in my consideration

1. Nikon S9
2. Fuji F30
3. Canon SD700IS
4. Canon A710IS
5. Canon SD 800IS

I would be very happy if any of you could help me choose 2 camera or if you can suggest ones which will do better than the ones listed above.

Thanks a lot
Rithwick

[coldrain]

Since you want the best ISO 400 performance, there is only the Fuji F31fd to consider (followup of the F30, probably followed up soon by an F40?).

The Nikon S9 is rubbish (as are all other Nikon S cameras), the Canons you list are good cameras, but can not compete with the Fuji where lower light high ISO performance is concerned.

[Rooz]

i have the 850is and it works a treat for a p/s.
excellent at iso400, you;ll have no drama there at all, small, decent manual controls for a compact. much better flash than my old sony compact.

[jleonardjr]

I have a Canon SD800 IS and while it is good in low light conditions the Fuji F30 is supposedly better. Also, the Fuji provides you with more manual controls than the Canon. The Fuji F30 is also about $100 cheaper.

Don't get me wrong. I love my SD800. I chose it over the Fuji F30 for the image stabilization and because I fish and hunt so I wanted good bright light performance too. I have read cutomer reviews (on newegg.com I think)stating the Fuji F30 doesn't perform as well in those conditions. These claims are not substantiated though and may not concern you if you only want it for the low light performance. I feel the Canon SD800 takes pretty good photos at ISO 200 and ISO 400 but I may not have taken the pictures in the same type of settings you plan to be in.

[rithwick]

Thanks to everyone. I have narrowed down my choice to either the F30 or the F31fd. Canon 800IS is at the back of my mind still. coz it's more compact and stylish. i checked on the prices and have the following prices for the three.

Fuji F30 - 267$
Fuji F31fd - 305$
Canon SD800IS - 354$

Is the F31fd worth the extra dollars for the fd? and is the Canon SD800IS worth the extra dollars for IS? Considering IS doesn't really work for Fast Moving objects?

[swgod98]

I bought an F30 a while back. Great camera, but it has a bit of purple fringing in the daylight :mad:

For low light, it is really good. I was taking pictures of my brothers winter formal with it and my D80 (in the evening at a park) and surprisingly, the F30 pictures came out decent. The white balance was whacked (I had it on auto WB) due to the single yellow light in the gazebo, but most of the shots were fast enough to keep people still (I was just shooting randomly, everyone).

As much as I love the F30 for what it is, I always wonder if I'd like a Canon Elph better...? The Elph's are just so stylish, compact and well builit.

[rithwick]

I bought an F30 a while back. Great camera, but it has a bit of purple fringing in the daylight :mad:

For low light, it is really good. I was taking pictures of my brothers winter formal with it and my D80 (in the evening at a park) and surprisingly, the F30 pictures came out decent. The white balance was whacked (I had it on auto WB) due to the single yellow light in the gazebo, but most of the shots were fast enough to keep people still (I was just shooting randomly, everyone).

As much as I love the F30 for what it is, I always wonder if I'd like a Canon Elph better...? The Elph's are just so stylish, compact and well builit.

Yeah I have the same kind of feeling. I guess at this level its more a question of preference i guess at this level.

[rithwick]

Lets see if you all can help me score the camera on the following parameters out of 10 and compute the best camera. I kind of want to look at things objectively here. Coz the 2 camera are going to be a gift


1. Low Light - Weightage 20%
2. Image Colours (Purple Fringes saturation etc)- Weightage 15%
3. Style - Weightage 10%
4. Mannual control - Weightage 10%
5. Outdoor Shooting - 15%
6. Compactness - 10%
7. Battery Life - 10%
8. Ease of use - 10%

This would be really helpful

Camera's to rate

Fiji F30
Fiji F31fd
Canon 800IS / 700IS
Canon A710IS