Help me pick another Digital Camera

[euroz24]

i have a Canon SD300 and it has served me well for the past few years, i will still keep it cause its not bulky and takes great pics on the go. But now i have started taking photography photos, mostly at night and long exposure photos, but the SD300 is not the best choice for that. First off, im not looking for a new camera, maybe get one second hand. the features i want is a camera that has a timer in it, but takes more than 1 photo with the timer. I would like it to use SD cards, and i would like it to take Bright vibrant colours at night. i have seen some photos on this site and i was amazed at what a camera can do at night. And i also need a camera that i can turn the auto focus off, i would like to do some shot where that background is blurry, but one object is in focus.

Any suggestions?

[looniepincher]

Doubt you'd find many compact P&S cameras that can do all that, especially blurring the background to isolate the subject.

I think you need to move up to a compact or entry-level DSLR like the D40 or the XT/XTi.

[KorruptioN]

You've outgrown your compact, congrats ;)

Speaking of that timer, what you're looking for is called an "intervalometer". Not many compact cameras come with this feature... the only compact I've ever seen come with it is the Canon G6 (which I have). I can set the amount of minutes I want and the number of desired photos. The camera does the rest.

Bright vibrant colours at night: pretty much anything can do this, but it boils down to technique. Slow shutter speeds (you'll need a tripod or a steady surface), lower ISO values, etc.

Most point&shoots that offer manual control should let you disable autofocus.

The background seperation isn't really do-able on any compact camera. A DSLR is what you're looking for here.