Which camera should I buy for low light applications?

The IXUS has the better sensor here, the HS indicates 'high sensitivity' which is Canon's way of branding their BSI-CMOS sensors. The S95, great camera as it is, uses old technology, and isn't so great in low light.

If you want a bargain though, have a look at the Canon SX220 or SX230 HS, they both have the same BSI technology as the IXUS 1100, but both SX220 and 230 are cheaper, and have a lot more zoom on the lens.

It's also worth considering the latest offerings from Fujifilm's EXR range, the F600/660 EXR, they use SuperCCD technology to increase sensitivity and dynamic range.

Finally if money is no object, then the newly announced Canon Powershot G1X would be the camera to get, for it's APS-C sized sensor will trump all other compacts.

on a similar time as the sensor length contained in the Olympus is smaller, Screwdriver is misguiding you. What gets easy to the sensor is the lens, not the dimensions of the sensor. If the Lenses on the Olympus are tuned to the sensor length, the widespread of the image may be the comparable if the mp count form is the comparable. Neither Nikon lenses nor Canon lenses are greater proper than the Olympus lenses and that i've got been making use of the Olympus E510 for notably much 2 years with out problems. To do macro with any of the cameras, you're able to ought to have a lens with macro features. all the applications which you point out are attainable on all the cameras which you're pondering. The Olympus is bodily smaller and that's an advantage while you're trekking with the unit. as a rely of fact, Olympus has merely come out with a E620 that's even smaller and has all the comparable capacities as its better brothers contained in the Olympus line. think of in terms of small length - neither Canon nor Nikon are in contact contained in the cameras that docs shove down you or up you - Olympus is in contact and has been in contact in that for a protracted time. relatively, it relatively is Macro photos contained in the severe. in the adventure that your lens on your digicam tells you that 50mm is f1.8, and the olympus on the different cameras is f a million.8, then the amoun of sunshine attending to the sensor is the comparable in all circumstances. Olympus makes use of a 4:3 element ratio on a similar time as the others use a three:2 element ratio. some think of this could properly be a severe concern. The 35mm digicam is the only movie digicam with a three:2 and the only paper length you will get in 3:2 is the 4 inch by potential of 6 inch paper. while you're enlarging to eight x 10, you lose the three:2 ratio. The Canon you're pondering, because of the fact the Olympus E510 is 10mp, the Nikon D40 is 6.a million

Will you be relying on high ISO or can you use a tripod. Will you be using flash? Among the compacts the Panasonic LX5 comes with shutter speed up to 60seconds out of the box, and with a firmware update it can go up to 250 seconds.

This is ISO 400 at 60 seconds by moonlight:

http://www.martingrumet.com/moonlight07feb12panaso...

Built-in flash is weak. It can use an external Panasonic or Olympus flash. It has a lot of autofocus position adjustability, which is good for tripod work.

The new Canon S100 should do well as compact cameras go at high ISO. However, exposure is limited to 15 seconds, beyond 1 second ISO is locked at 80, and there is no hotshoe.

My Olympus E-PL2 does pretty well at high ISO. Exposure can be set as high as 60 seconds, and it can do up to 4 minutes on Bulb. However, beyond about 15 seconds it gets a lot of hot pixel speckles, even with noise reduction turned on. The in-body image stabilization is weak.

A DSLR would probably get you best results. Lenses with wide apertures are often expensive, the widest apertures are often not so sharp, and you have to stop down more to match the depth of field of smaller cameras. A Nikon D5100 with 35mm f1.8 AF-S DX lens could be a good choice if it gives you the angular coverage you need. That lens is supposed to be very sharp stopped down to f2.8. It lacks VR, so it is best with a tripod or flash. For DSLR's you need a heftier tripod than a compact. If you can use a Gorillapod, you need their heftier DSLR model.

The white balance can never be corrected enough for low pressure sodium. Without another light source it will be effectively monochrome. You can choose between that being in grayscale or in shades of yellowish-gray. A long time ago I worked as a security guard in San Diego. Guarding a construction site at night in a neighborhood that had low pressure sodium street lighting, everything was shades of yellow gray unless I turned on my flashlight to discover what color things were. (Which gave me something to amuse myself with.)

Unfortunately the point and shoot and bridge cameras have tiny sensors which make low light performance poor in comparison to a dslr. I would seriously look at an entry level DSLR with the kit lens. They are not that big and there performance will be considerably better. They also have auto mode so they don't have to be fiddly if you don't want them to be.

the s95 should perform better in low light as the f stop goes all the way down to 2.0 at the minimum focal length whereas the 1100hs lowest f stop at minimum focal point is only 3.4

Canon S95 is currently my top choice of camera. You can get it from Amazon for a very good deal. You can read reviews about S95 at http://www.topdigitalcamerassite.com/

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I suggest the Canon PowerShot ELPH 100. Its HS SYSTEM with a 12.1 MP CMOS and DIGIC 4 Image Processor improves shooting in low-light situations without the need for a flash and Full 1080p HD Video for exceptional quality and keep footage stabilized with Dynamic IS.

Read this review about the performance of the camera:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1AI4ZRJL3ZPEB/ref=cm...

Best price for Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 that i found:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-ELPH-100-HS/...

Best price for Canon PowerShot S95 that i found:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-S95-Stabiliz...