i think equipment only covers around 10-15% of the overall.
i've seen very good pictures taken with a sony t-30 if not mistaken of the model.
you can check it out at flikr.com

IMO, actually normal digicam also can take fabulous night shots too.
like the t30, you set it to fireworks mode then the ev set to the max then you can take quite a nice night shot i think. you just have to tweak with the wb to achieve a better pic and of course use a tripod or put it on a bench or something.

here's a pic that i'd taken with a t30.

the oni thing i'm not satisfied is the wb in this pic la. cos that time dunno how to tweak it.

here's another one.

the wb also abit crap on this i think.

and yeah i do agree with you that current handphone cams cannot take night shots as decent as real digicams.
handphones are only meant to make and recieve calls, not to mention sms.
the only handphone cam that skim the surface of digicam quality pics is the SE k series with xenon flash lo i think but to a certain limit only (the night shots).

i'm just a noob in this and looking forward to learn more, please correct me if i'm wrong.

thanks. in those pic, i used long exposure to capture them. from the details of its file, it indicates 8s of exposure. and yeah, if wanna shoot bokehs or something like that sure cannot la. like i said, 10-15% of overall still depend on the equipment. even if you are using a Leica f/1.0 Noctilux but dunno how to use its potential also no use. right?

can you please elaborate more? i really want to improve my skill.

This post has been edited by anthrax33: Oct 3 2007, 03:41 PM

well, if your budget permits you to get a better cam, wont you get a better cam?
i'm also considering the panny lx-2, canon g9, and the nikon p5100.

well, i think if one really have the skills and know-how, he can shoot equally good pics with a k800 in certain situations compared with someone using a hasselblad. you can see here. if you wanna print poster sized pics then of course dslr is a clear winner. but if you just wanna print a 4" x 6", then the equipment would not be a very big factor already.

and yeah, i do agree with goldfries that equipment do bring your skills to a higher level.

This post has been edited by anthrax33: Oct 3 2007, 04:38 PM