Night time photography?

Question:

Night time photography?

wondering if anyone has any recommendations for a digital camera that I will use primarily for night photography. everything from landscape shots where i want a colored sky but darker terrain, to architecture where i get in as much light as possible, to cars...etc
anyone one brand/model better than another?
what kinda questions/features should i be looking for?
again, for a digital camera

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: When people "recommend" this or that camera just it usually means they LIKE that camera. Most people don't have enough experience to recommend (in comparison).

Having said that: I have owned and used Canon DSLR (10D), Canon G2 & G3, Nikon D70 and Fuji S2 pro. I've used all of them in personal play and professional wedding condition.

It seems that Canon 10D (and most of Canons that use CMOS sensor) are not that good at low light / available light photography). If you visit DpReview.com, the CMOS sensor's have much less noise at low light. But when the image is underexposed, the image look like they were "captured" from a video camera (very flat color).

Surprisingly Canon G2 and G3 have wonderful colors at low light (available indoor light and twilight and dawn light). I have no experience with the new G series. But given that good light sensitivity and CCD size (and pixel density) are opposite of each other I suspect the newer G series are actually not as good.

The Nikon D70 is very good at low light. But to get the max effect, you should get the more expensive "fast" lens. OK some of the old "fast" lens are cheap (like 50mm f1.8) but that's because it might lack zoom or some of the newer digital era features.

The Fuji S2 pro is not so good at low light. It is a pro camera with very good skin ton - as long as there's plenty of light. But and shadow areas are over populated with CCD noise. The new Fuji S5 (no personal experience) were explicitely created to handle extra low or bright light conditions - but they require the use of RAW format to get full effect.

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In general, the newer DSLR are very good at low light photography. The higher the pixel count (or smaller the CCD) the worse the light sensitivity. Most P&S cameras are not good at low light because they choose to use small (smaller) CCD, slow lens and high pixel count.

Good luck.
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