# Help Me Choose a Good Low Light Camera



## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

I'm wanting a good point and shoot (I know right) camera that would do the best job with low light situations and close ups. It will need to take pictures of my corals as well as low light and night time shots of my computers and their parts. 

Here are some of my pictures to show you the kinds of things I'll need to shoot and the conditions:























































I already know I'm a horrible photographer, but I'll work on that after I make sure I have the right camera.
I currently have a Canon PowerShot SX200 IS that I will be selling and replacing with the new camera. One issue I have with the 200 IS is an inability to capture color at night. There's a small light strip on the bottom right in the night time PC picture that shows up blue instead of purple. 

These are the cameras I've narrowed down. I'm aware that some of the newer versions of cameras are sometimes worse than the outgoing versions. Please take a look at these and help me decide or feel free to offer another idea.

Canon PowerShot S90 or the newer S95: I did notice that the S90 doesn't have a lot of manual controls
Canon PowerShot G11 
Canon Powershot SD4000 or the newer 4500
Fujifilm Finepix F200EXR or the newer 300EXR 
Fujifilm Finepix 80EXR or 70EXR
Sony DSC-WX1

Thanks in advance.


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## neumahrs (Jan 12, 2010)

Whats your camera budget?

Nice watercooled rig btw


I've played with the canon sd4500is and I really was impressed with it.


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

THanks!
Around $400. The less the better.


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## neumahrs (Jan 12, 2010)

In that case the Canon SD4000. The only major difference between that and the 4500 is that the 4500 comes in a hideous brown color, can record 1080p, and 10x zoom. Otherwise they're about the same but you save 100 bucks going with the 4000. Their low light performance is the same.
Sample below


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

very nice! and it has all of the colors!


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Canon Powershot S90 (or S95, just came out). Said to be the best P&S camera for low light conditions, thanks to a larger sensor and max aperture 2.0. Going for ~$300 now.

Do some reading on sites like dpreview.


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

Thanks wasserpest


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## Filete (Dec 31, 2009)

Canon´s are great but lean toward video quality, on the other hand Nikon´s have invested the most R&D in sensitivity, at least in their top end cameras which eventualy gets to their Point and shoot.
for good reference check out this page: www.dpreview.com
and make your pick.


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## neumahrs (Jan 12, 2010)

Actually after looking at samples I say get the Fuji F300. It has even less noise than the canon at high iso.


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## Franzi (Dec 7, 2009)

S90 is said to have the best lowlight performance of all compacts. It also has full manual control. I have one and it I love it. Only potential downside is that it doesn't have HD video. If that's what you like though, wait for the S95 (720p). SD4000/4500 are kinda like the amateur's S90/95...they don't have manual controls.


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## lnstevens (Aug 9, 2010)

FujiFilm previously was just selling renamed Olympus camera's for a long time. I know they are still closely tied with olympus, just not sure if they are still renamed olympus camera's.

I would check the review sites, specifically there forums, and check for cameras in your budget.

A few would be the high end Olympus SP series ($300), the low end olympus DSLR (around $450), Canon Low end DSLR (around $500), Nikon Low End DSLR, and then the various p and s standard cameras also.

When checking the forums specifically look for people posting pictures they have taken with the camera and make sure if they list any extra equipment they used.

This a review for an older SP series, but it has night shots at multiiple ISO settings:
http://www.cnet.com.au/olympus-sp-550-ultra-zoom-339274230.htm


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## Filete (Dec 31, 2009)

neumahrs said:


> In that case the Canon SD4000. The only major difference between that and the 4500 is that the 4500 comes in a hideous brown color, can record 1080p, and 10x zoom. Otherwise they're about the same but you save 100 bucks going with the 4000. Their low light performance is the same.
> Sample below


This picture is a long exposure taken with a low sensitivity ISO (125) and a tripod, it wont tell you if the camera is good at low light situations. The camera used to take the picture is a Canon IXY 30S not a SD4500.


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

what are you using to get the data info from the picture?


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## Filete (Dec 31, 2009)

MedRed said:


> what are you using to get the data info from the picture?


Adobe Photoshop /file/file info/camera data 1


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## Filete (Dec 31, 2009)

For example, your reef picture was taken with a Canon PowerShot SD750 on august 19th 2009 1/40 sec @f/4.0 ISO 320 Focal length 12.1mm, no flash and metering mode in Pattern.


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## MedRed (May 20, 2008)

nice... I'm going to hunt down some pictures and see what everyone is using. Thanks! +rep


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## neumahrs (Jan 12, 2010)

Filete said:


> This picture is a long exposure taken with a low sensitivity ISO (125) and a tripod, it wont tell you if the camera is good at low light situations. The camera used to take the picture is a Canon IXY 30S not a SD4500.


Canon SD4000 = IXY 30S

Its the same camera but IXY 30S is the Japanese model number for the SD4000.

Another option would be to get a nice used DSLR body and invest in a nice lens. I've seen the original Digital Rebel for as low as 200 bucks.


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