Sunset snap taken on Canon S2

Features to look for:

RAW via JPEG capture modes:

Most professionals believe that a RAW image can be described as a negative in comparison with 35mm analogue cameras. It contains all the details of shadows, highlights and mid-tones, plus all the information on settings used. RAW format lets you compile your images after shooting and in post–processing, just like you would do with a negative in a darkroom. You can modify sharpness, saturation, contrast, exposure and color tones and reproduce the same image from that RAW file again. In this case memory buffer is very important, because it can affect the cameras performance and fast response. When you shoot in RAW, you can be fairly confident that you can still modify your photos and change the settings of your picture to bring together the closest color details of the original scene.

Memory buffers:

This is something you can find in some high-end SLR-like digital cameras. The more memory buffer, the faster your camera will be, especially in continuous and high-speed continuous shooting modes. Less prosumer compact digital cameras offer hefty memory buffer, but still less than SLR-Likes and DSLRs. Don’t forget that you’ll get what you’ll pay for. Prosumer compact digital cameras are built for multi-purpose photography and you can’t expect much from them. If you are looking for faster frame per second shooting and higher performance and recharge speed, then you should definitely look for a SLR-Like or DSLR camera that fits your budget with proper settings.

LCD:

Some of prosumer compact digital camera LCDs are big enough to give you a great preview, and they also rotate in wide variety of angles. Canon’s SII & SIII are two generations of canon’s S series and they are perfect Prosumer compact digital cameras. Rotational LCD panels are a must nowadays. Rotational LCD helps you take picture at low angles, which is most needed in low-light nature photography. You’ll need them for those low angle sunset and sunrise shots to name a few.

ISO range:

Prosumer compact cameras offer a limited range of ISO and lower quality at the higher end. Usually an ISO ranging between 100 and 1600 is an acceptable range for shooting night and low-light scenes, but this is hardly supported in prosumer compacts. They usually offer ISO ranging from 100 to 800 or 1000 at most. As mentioned before, it is not a good practice to trust all manufacturers and digital camera makers, because introducing high ISO ranges is not always an advantage.

High ISO with acceptable quality is what we are after in night and low-light photography. Try to test your digital camera of choice before purchasing one, and read some reviews over the Internet to make sure they can produce acceptable qualities at their higher end or mid-range ISO numbers.

Aperture:

Lenses use an iris, or diaphragm, to adjust the amount of light entering diaphragm and falling on the camera’s APS (Active Pixel Sensor). Prosumer compact digital cameras often have a maximum aperture value not higher than f/3.5, which is disappointing. The higher the maximum aperture value, the more light enters the lens, which is a good advantage in night photography.

Startup times:

Prosumer digital compact cameras offer reasonably fast startups in comparison with the money you pay. So this is not a big issue while purchasing a prosumer point and shoot digital camera.

AF systems:

The higher the number of auto focus points, the better. Also, because prosumer compact digital cameras don’t come with changeable lenses, you can be confident that they support auto focus and they are usually quite fast.

Exposure Mode Dial:

Almost all prosumer digital cameras support manual exposure modes where you can adjust shutter speed and aperture value manually. This is a must in low-light photography. These modes are usually named ; AV(Aperture Priority), TV(Shutter speed Priority), M(Manual Exposure control) and P(program) but it might differ under different manufacturers.

Flash system and accessories: You have less control over this because prosumer compacts usually have no hot shoe on them to support external flash systems. Although some of them does but it depends on your type of night and low-light photography. Even thought without hot shoe mounts, they work very nice with your lighting instruments. Make sure you read reviews about your prosumer camera of choice and all these before purchase.

Custom functions:

No luck finding any custom functions in prosumer compact digital cameras, but some do offer a small number of functions. NR (Noise Reduction) is one of those most wanted custom functions that can rarely be found on prosumer compacts. Again I have to put emphasis on this sentence again that “your objectives and type of low-light and night photography is very important while choosing one to buy”. Because every one of these cameras support different features that match certain type of low-light and night photography.

White balance:

The built-in system for evaluating white balance and the manual modes is pretty accurate. This feature is acceptable for what you pay. Some prosumer compacts produce sharp and quality pictures that they are hard to achieve with other advanced digital cameras. Just make sure you know what type of low-light and night photography you want to do. This way you can be certain that the prosumer digital camera of your choice matches your demands.

Storage and memory cards:

Different types of memory cards are being developed and their technologies are improved day after day. Nowadays, you can easily find 2-gigabyte memory cards for any prosumer compact digital camera.