Camera light sensitive  

That's the limitation for all point and shoot cameras. Get a SLR with an external flash unit will solve your problem

I doubt that the stabiliser turns off, and with the ISO boosted, the shutter speed will be higher, so blur will be reduced.

The higher ISO settings also increase the range of your flash, but no matter what you do, your camera is going to generate "digital noise" in this situation. That makes the picture look blurred. You can reduce it (at the cost of some "smearing" using programs like Noise Ninja or PaintShopPro, but a camera with a CMOS sensor helps more (Canon have 3 non-SLRs with this type of sensor array) or go to a camera with a larger sensor. Panasonic, Leica, Sigma and Samsung make compacts with SLR sized sensors: they are new and expensive. Or you could buy a DSLR.

Sorry: no cheap solutions.

Well that's the very problem with ultra-compact cameras... They are just meant to take happy smiling pics of families and friends..

So if you want more control over your pictures, then you have 3 options:

The cheapest option is going for cameras like the Canon A-640 and similar A-series cameras.. They are compact as well as give decent control over your pics..

The 2nd option is SLR-like cameras.. They reach very close to SLRs, but still cannot beat them in certain aspects, and are indeed bulky.. They don't have detachable lenses..

The most advanced option is SLRs, for which you also have to learn a lot to know how to use them!!


I suggest you go for the first option.. You get a nice point-and-shoot camera in the auto mode.. And the manual mode gives you nice controls, similar to SLRs.. The presets are also very helpful..

2nd option is pretty useless, as the good cams cost often more than SLRs itself!! 3rd option is unnecessary if you aint going pro..