This is a frequent question around here. Scroll through the PB pages or do a search and you'll find other replies which will give you more information.
In a nutshell, most digital point and shoot cameras don't do well in low light in large part because the sensor is relatively small in comparison to that of a DSLR camera. In the case of your camera, the fact that you "only" have 5 MP is probably a good thing, as cramming more MP than that onto a small sensor in theory only makes the images worse/more grainy (though you will see that some are reporting good results with pns cameras as high as 12MP
).
There are a few things you can do to improve your nighttime pictures using the camera you have now. I peeked at some reviews and there are reports that it can do ok in low light so perhaps it's a matter of simply improving your technique - which will help no matter what camera you have.
Use the nighttime settings on the dial if you have them. This allows as much light into the lens as possible. Also, try using a small tripod or placing the camera on a still surface for shots. In the dark the lens stays open longer so any movement on your part or the part of the subject matter will cause blur. You can't change the moving subject but you can stop yourself from moving which will help for still shots. If you have the ability to increase the ISO, this will help too, but beware - the higher you go, the more grainy/noisy they'll be (though you can use noise reduction software later to reduce it a bit).
The only other thing I can say is to get out now and practice, practice, practice your technique and using the different settings on your camera under conditions which will mimic those at
MNSSHP in order to learn what works best.
I want something small, but one that will take great pictures at night, too.
I don't know that there's any "magic bullet" point and shoot camera which will perform really great in low light. The general consensus here seems to be that certain Fuji models that have a larger sensor do better than most pns's in low light, and there are also many fans here of the Canon S2/3/5 IS models which with practice can also do acceptably in low light, though they aren't what most would really consider
small (there is a huge S3 thread usually on page 1). Other brands have their fans here as well, including Kodak, Panasonic, Nikon and Olympus to name just a few. If you do decide to buy a new pns camera, probably wise to not go too high on the megapixels.
Read lots of reviews first on digital camera websites and be sure to investigate things like battery life and structure as well.
HTH and Good luck!
