Regarding lowlights and p&s.....here are some pics I took

[npmommie]

I took these with my Lumix, p&s....no manual controls.......
this first one is no flash, 800 iso, sports mode
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/npmommie/WebP1000678.jpg

next one, same setting as above, but I zoomed in
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/npmommie/WebP1000659.jpg

neither one is clear, and the light looks bad.
next one is sports mode, flash on.....iso 500
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/npmommie/WebP1000649.jpg

next one is sports mode, flash on....iso 200
i must have been too far away.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/npmommie/WebP1000651.jpg

next one in the church, i used the intelligent iso setting, no flash, iso 400
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/npmommie/WebP1000623.jpg

and here are a couple of outdoor pics with the same camera to compare
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/npmommie/WebP1000452.jpg

same spot, i zoomed in
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/npmommie/WebP1000454.jpg

i think i had it on beach scene for the outdoor shots, or else normal setting i don't remember.

so the indoor pics seem fuzzy to me, and the lighting terrible.......i didn't do anything to the pics yet to try to correct anything.
but i just wanted to show what i am talking about

so to get those shots inside, like at the wedding, i would love a camera to take good pics in those situations, or maybe i need to learn the settings better on my p&s, a lot of times i take pics of the kids in indoor settings , like at home, or when we go places, and they come out sometimes ok, sometimes bad like these.

[poppyolivia]

Thank you for sharing!:thumbsup2

I absolutely love the last photos you showed...very unusual!
Great stuff!

[boBQuincy]

Where's Groucho when we need him? ;)

The pixels in most (or all) P&S cameras are too small to get good images in low light. Boosting the ISO amplifies the noise along with the signal. Sensors and processors will continue to improve but it really comes down to laws of physics, bigger pixels capture more light and give a less noisy signal.

Zooming in makes things worse as it usually results in a smaller aperture and more camera shake. Processing can improve the image to some degree but it is still much better to start with a clean image.

At this time there is no P&S with a sensor nearly as large as a dSLR, so to get good low light images requires a dSLR and a large aperture lens (such as the 50 f/1.8).

[Groucho]

I'm here, just trying not to carpetbomb every thread with my fiddly little thoughts. :)

Most of the posted shots are a bit too small to get an idea of how noisy/blurry/etc they are. But regardless, like Bob said, PnS cameras are cursed with poor low-light performance. Unfortunately, with today's technology, you can't have good low-light performance and a camera that's the size of a credit card!