I know this has probably been asked before, but...

[JoeDif]

I'm disappointed that anyone on these boards would stoop to sarcasm.


All these things make it difficult to respond properly to requests like the OPs. When someone says that they want good night shots, how do you know what their expectations are? Are they thinking of a McNally shot that (unbeknownst to them) involved a dozen carefully controlled and gelled speed lights? Are they just wanting a shot of their kids that isn’t blurry? What constitutes a good zoom? Is that something with a reach equivalent to a 200mm lens or a 600mm lens? How wide is wide enough? When someone says that they don’t want to spend too much, are they imagining a budget of a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars?

So you are saying I won't be able to get shot like this one with my pop up flash?

Bummer

 

[webshark3]

All these things make it difficult to respond properly to requests like the OPs. When someone says that they want good night shots, how do you know what their expectations are? Are they thinking of a McNally shot that (unbeknownst to them) involved a dozen carefully controlled and gelled speed lights? Are they just wanting a shot of their kids that isn’t blurry? What constitutes a good zoom? Is that something with a reach equivalent to a 200mm lens or a 600mm lens? How wide is wide enough? When someone says that they don’t want to spend too much, are they imagining a budget of a few hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars?[/FONT][/COLOR]

Coming from a similar past as the OP, I think the answer are pretty straight-forward for most newbies. I got a Fuji superzoom years ago because I wanted zoom (6x at the time). Wow! 6X! That was better than the 5X model for sure.

Put the camera on the little running man when I wanted action. Put it on the face when I wanted a face, and put it on the Moon when I wanted clean pictures at night......wait... why do they keep coming out blurry? And this zoom isn't clear at all. But I paid more for the zoom....

...and the learning process started...

And experimentation. And more experimenting. Enter Dpreview.com and got my @#$ handed to me. But with every post I also became stronger.

Today, I tend to stick to wide-angle primes.

First digital: 6X superzoom, AUTO, small sensor
Camera of preference today: 28mm wide angle prime, Foveon-based DP1

The only thing that frustrates me (not about the OP, but about my own family and friends) is when they ask me what camera they should buy to take great pictures BUT, they don't want to learn anything new.

 

[webshark3]

So you are saying I won't be able to get shot like this one with my pop up flash?

Bummer

Ugh! Motion blur! That guy needs a new camera. His Auto mode isn't working. Or maybe smile-detection failed?

 

[Groucho]

If the OP is still reading... I'll back up RBennett too, there was certainly no malice in his response. However, what you're looking for is kind of like heading into a car dealership and saying that you want a car with 500 horsepower that gets 50 mpg and costs $13,000. Such a thing just doesn't exist.

You'll hear mention of "sensors" - the folks here are not being glib when they're telling you that such a camera doesn't exist. Small point-n-shoot cameras are saddles with tiny sensors (the digital equivalent of film) and are unavoidable bad in low light, no matter what their ads say or how many "night" modes they have. Most DSLRs have a sensor that is about 15x larger than the usual point-n-shoot sensor, so they can capture much more light and produce much better low-light photos. I'm not a fan of the Rebel line but if you are comparing it to a point-n-shoot, you are certainly getting a lot more than just the name.

Keep in mind, to get really good low-light photos, you're often talking about spending $300+ (up to a couple thousand) just for the lens.

You can pick up good used DSLRs for $300 or slightly less with a basic lens, that right off the bat gets you ahead of the point-n-shoots, but they are larger, heavier, and more complicated, and you generally won't get the massive zoom range that you find on the 12x (or higher) zoom point-n-shoots. You can also pick up the cheapest fast 50mm lens for whatever DSLR for maybe $100 or so, which will do very well in low light, but you may find the lack of zoom limiting if you're not used to it.