Best low light suggestions?

[GimpyPoop]

Canon or non-canon? Barebone P&S or prosumer camera?

I did a precursory title topic search and it didn't yield much so . . . I'm asking on behalf of a friend who is a bit of a foodie - she loves going to restaurants to taste/review foods and always takes photos of the food for her own personal blog. She has a $20 eBay camera and the photos usually end up looking pretty decent because she's quite Photoshop proficient, but she wants to upgrade her camera. I suggested the Canon cameras like the PowerShot SX1 IS and thus forth but I have no personal experience with that particular series so I was hoping that some of you all could offer me some insight? She wants something fairly lightweight so I think the G10 maybe too large for her to tote around to restaurants and nights out . . .

So anyway - she is hunting for a fantastic low light macro-shot camera (she detests using flash). I have the Canon SD1000 but I can't say it's too fabulous at the high ISO ranges.

I know the Fujifilm F30/31 were exceptional in terms of the high ISO range, but Fuji hasn't produced any models comparable to them since, have they?

Thanks in advance!

[katana]

I've just obtained an SD990 to replace a dead Ixus 960. The ISO 800 performance on the new camera is good. A big leap forward over the older model. With IS your friend may find she can get acceptable results at ISO 400 which seems really solid on the 990.