Travel Photography - Camera for Dark Nightclubs?

Part of my task is to go out to nightclubs and take pictures. I take more of the atmospheric type photo, like people on the dance floor rather than the bright photo of people out and about smiling in front of the camera. I do not want to use flash or lighting. I really don't want to use a tripod either.
I have gone through three cameras so far and returned them immediately because the pictures were terrible. As expected, either way too dark or completely fuzzy and blurry. On the fuzzy pictures the camera takes 30 seconds to complete the picture and even if it were in focus it still would be a bit dark.
Anyways it may sound impossible but I had the most wonderful and simple to use ELPH ever that I got several years ago. I would simply point and click in the clubs and it would absorb the light instantly and clear. That camera got sat on and broken over one year ago and I am still struggling to get this done. Is it that cameras today are way to sophisticated for their own good?
My budget is very cheap since I am not looking for anything fancy but just clear photos in the dark.

How about a cheap film SLR with a fast fixed-focus lens? The digital equivalent will probably blow your budget, in part because the digital market restricts (as of today) SLRs to a higher segment than the film market does. Less expensive digital cameras have tiny sensors that have poor image quality at high ISO ratings, and often fairly slow lenses as well.

Can eBay or Craigslist find you a replica of your old treasured ELPH?

Can eBay or Craigslist find you a replica of your old treasured ELPH?
Probably. But is there not a newer version that can do something similar?
Im thinking these cameras are trying way to hard and are ruining the picture.
Also photos much be digital since they go online immediately.

Almost the same question I was going to ask. Not so much specifically for a night club but something for night shots - Is there something digital where I don't have to carry around my back pack or worry every two seconds that I can't put my Canon down or that I might spill beer on it.

Cheers -

get a leica Noctilux and a box to use it.

get a leica Noctilux and a box to use it.

A Nikon D700 w/ 50mm f1.2 is half the price, if you want a Leica mount there's the Voigtlander Noctilux for $1k now.

. . . I do not want to use flash or lighting. I really don't want to use a tripod either. I have gone through three cameras so far and returned them immediately because the pictures were terrible . . .

I'm not trying to knock you here, but photography is about light and understanding how to work with light. Clubs and other venues are very challenging places to shoot and one needs to understand the process of how and what. No single piece of equipment can substitute for knowledge -- actually the worst thing to do is purchase an expensive camera that is too daunting to figure out. Doesn't sound to me as if you fully understand the process . . . have you read anything about techniques?

There are techniques that one can use in the field to compensate for limited light, but you don't want to use a flash and it sounds like you're already excluding shots before you get there -- first you gotta learn to work with what the light will give you, then you bring ideas about composition. Tripods or mini tripods are helpful -- though the former might not work in a club in terms of setting it up. Finding a stable place to set a camera also helps. But ultimately the ambient light determines what is and what is not possible in lieu of flash.

If you had a camera that suppossedly worked for you, then maybe you should try E-bay and other on-line resources to reacquire that camera. I wouldn't suggest an expensive camera as much I would suggest playing around and working with light in ordinary situations and then taking this knowledge into more challenging light situations.

Barry

Do a Google search on "compact digital camera low light." What you're looking for is a P&S digital camera that has high ISO capabilities with as little noise as possible. (The higher the ISO, the less light the camera needs to make the exposure; but it comes at a cost: noise.) P&S cameras can't even come close to digital SLRs for this task, but if you've been satisfied with a P&S before, then some of today's cameras should have the ISO you need to accomplish your task.

A good place to compare cameras is http://www.dpreview.com...they have samples of photos taken at various ISOs so you can judge the quality. There's also an article on understanding the challenges of high ISO in a P&S digital camera (http://www.dpreview.com/articles/compactcamerahighiso/).

Can't help in picking a camera. Don't know which camera you are currently using.
In general, whichever camera that you use, you still need to deal with the basics as jerseyfinn had pointed out. Aperture & shutter speed settings.
Unfortunately most P&S have automatic settings for a variety of situations. Optimum solution is to use MANUAL mode (if there is one). Experiment with the shutter speed setting at wide open aperture (and vary this combination), until image is acceptable. Since you don't want flash nor tripod, be sure to lean again a column, wall, pole (or whatever) to reduce camera shake. For images of people on the dance floor, you would want and get motion blur though.

Last week, David Pogue of the NY Times had an article about two p&s cameras that are meant to work in low light situations.

The article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/technology/personaltech/20pogue.html)

George, nice article on the new technology in chips for P&S.

I'm a Canon G9 user myself, and I discover this article at dpreview (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081908canong11.asp)about the new Canon G11 model. Seems that Canon ups the ante on the full-featured manual P&S end of the market.

So it appears that there are a couple new consumer P&S offering by Sony and Fuji, and yet another Canon improvement to the G9/G10 series at the higher end of the field.

Looks like I'll be able to surpress my growing urge to move up to DSLR for a couple of more years as I'll just wait for the full G11 review on dpreview and take out the credit card for a camera upgrade.

Barry

Canon's 50/1.8 cost about $100, and 50/1.4 cost under $400. Large aperture lens don't have to cost an arm and a leg.

George, nice article on the new technology in chips for P&S.

I'm a Canon G9 user myself, and I discover this article at dpreview (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081908canong11.asp)about the new Canon G11 model. Seems that Canon ups the ante on the full-featured manual P&S end of the market.

So it appears that there are a couple new consumer P&S offering by Sony and Fuji, and yet another Canon improvement to the G9/G10 series at the higher end of the field.

Looks like I'll be able to surpress my growing urge to move up to DSLR for a couple of more years as I'll just wait for the full G11 review on dpreview and take out the credit card for a camera upgrade.

Barry

there is also S90 which is getting pretty good reviews now- much better camera for a nightclub!