Concert Camera with manual settings

[sweetverity]

Essentially what I am looking for is an upgrade from my Fuji s5100. I love that camera dearly but I would like to have higher megapixels and an ISO of up to at least 800. I tend to use my camera at concerts with some previously decent results and am searching for a camera that would provide something similar (i.e. this and this) While I would love a dslr I’m nervous of not being allowed to bring it into the venue and I don’t have the funds, so it’s a prosumer point and shot for me. I need a w. aperture of f2.8 with ideally a telephoto aperture of 3.1. Unfortunately my search has come up empty, and I’ve essentially come to the conclusion this camera doesn’t exist. However, I thought I’d give this a shot.

Budget

approximately in the $300 range

Size

Not extremely important but I’m leaning toward a larger sized point and shoot.

Features

How many megapixels will suffice for you? 8+

* What optical zoom will you need? Ultrazoom = 10x-12x

* How important is “image quality” to you? (Rate using a scale of 1-10) 8 or 9

Do you care for manual controls? I need manual controls

General Usage

* What will you generally use the camera for? A little bit of everything, specifically concerts

* Will you be making big prints of your photos or not? Nothing larger than 8x10

Will you be shooting a lot of indoor photos or low light photos? Yes!

Will you be shooting sports and/or action photos? To some degree

Miscellaneous

Are there particular brands you like or hate? I love fuji

Are there particular models you already have in mind? no

(If applicable) Do you need any of the following special features? Image Stabilization would be nice as I have shaky hands but I can do without it

[David Metsky]

speaklightly will be along shortly to show you pictures from the FZ-28. It may be about as close as you'll find.

[speaklightly]

Currently, the Panasonic FZ-28 is just about the best choice for low light level shots. It produces good images at ISO 800, much it is not perfect, it will not challenge what a DSLR camera can do. It is just currently the best choice among the point and shoot cameras. It also does well with outdoor shots.

Sarah Joyce