Are there Any Good Low-Light Cameras that are Small?

[Jason Dunn]

Earlier this year I bought a Casio Exilim EXZ50 (http://thoughtsmedia.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=4215613), largely based on the size and the speed of it's shutter lag. I tried it out in a store and was amazed at how quick and responsive it was. I knew that it wouldn't match the quality of my Canon 300D, but I was hopeful the images would still be good. For the most part, I've been quite happy with the camera - when we went to Europe it was a handy camera to have in those instances when the big 300D was a bit too big. One problem I've had with the EXZ50 since the beginning is it's poor performance in low-light situations. That's something almost all small cameras struggle with due to, I believe, the size of the sensor. The smaller the sensor, the more noise. And in some situations all I see is noise (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/cameratest.jpg) with this camera.

I'm looking for a new camera, something just as small or smaller than the EXZ50, but something that doesn't have an especially noisy sensor. I was initially looking at a Fuji Z1 (http://www.fujifilm.com/JSP/fuji/epartners/digitalShowcase.jsp) because, believe it not, I saw a TV commercial that made the camera look fantastic! When I looked into this camera a bit deeper, I wasn't impressed - who knew you couldn't trust what you saw on TV> ;-) Even the sample image on the Fuji site (http://www2.fujifilm.co.uk/digital/cameras/z1/sample_images/large/6.jpg) showed an incredible amount of noise</A>, so I think this camera is out of the running.

Any suggestions?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

The Z1 is your only option at that size, unfortunately. The other option is the bigger F10. Casio's S500 has ISO 1600 and 800, but it ain't great.

[Phoenix]

I have the Casio Exilim Z-750 - great little camera, one of the best, but in low light, none of these cameras do that well.

Digital SLRs can produce a better image at 1600 ISO than these pocket cameras can at 50 ISO. Low light images are no exception. Image sensor size is absolutely the issue here.

[Gary Sheynkman]

canon sd400 is the way to go for compacts

[Vincent Ferrari]

I'm not the pickiest photographer in the world, but truth be told I've yet to come up with a point and shoot that's even decent in low light, including my own camera which I love dearly (a Minolta Dimage X50). HOWEVER...

You can mitigate most of the noise issue with Neat Image (http://www.neatimage.com/), which is a must have program if you're a point and shoot camera owner. It does a magnificent job for most "noise" plagued images. It won't get you back the color that is underexposed when the camera burps on lowlight pics, but it will save a lot of specklefests.

[SubFuze]

Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH
http://www.dpreview.com/gallery/?gallery=canonsd500_samples/

does pretty well, but honestly, you're not going to find any super-low noise cameras with a CCD sensor, and the move to a CMOS bumps you up to SLR size... A combination of a good flash and some good noise reduction software will get you pretty far for snapshot type pics, but technically we're a long way off from being able to shoot low-noise 800/1600 ISO shots with a pocketable point-n-shoot digicam (we're really just getting there with full-sized CMOS based D-SLRs).

[timmy]

The Z1 is your only option at that size, unfortunately. The other option is the bigger F10. Casio's S500 has ISO 1600 and 800, but it ain't great.

Hi Jason,

As Lee Yuan Sheng pointed out the Fuji F10 is a good, but slightly bigger option. I did lots of research before buying my digital camera and the F10 was an option, but the I/O &amp; charger solution didn't seem too good. But the camera got good reviews, especially in low light conditions. In a Swedish magazine they wrapped up the review by stating "A great sensor in the wrong camera body"

I ended up buying a Nikon Coolpix 5900, since it also got really good reviews and the F10 was a little over the budget I decided upon before buying :wink:

/Timmy