I have somewhat of a dilemma. I HAD a Canon PowerShot SX10 IS. It worked pretty well for concerts. I put it on the motion setting, and that was it. Any other setting usually didn't work since band members hardly ever stand still, haha. The quality of the pictures was acceptable, but probably not the best it could be. I always just assumed that I could possible tweak some settings and figure it out as I went. However, the display on the camera became inverted, and kept doing funny things. After the second time Best Buy attempted to repair it they decided that the camera must have just been screwed up all together. Unfortunately, they didn't have any of that model left, and the other camera they had to offer was a Nikon. It was 2 megapixels higher, and had a higher zoom too. So I took it. BIG mistake.
With my Canon, I could put it on one of the default settings and get by. The pictures were always good quality, so that was never the problem. The camera itself just had some malfunctions. This Nikon is terrible. The pictures all come out grainy, not clear at all. In concert settings, or normal settings. Just standing outside taking a night shot comes out terrible, let alone how terrible the concert pictures look.
I'm about to head back into Best Buy now that I've had the chance to test this camera out. I'm not very familiar with what to look for in a good concert camera, so I need some advice. I've had big bulky cameras before, but can usually get the security off of my back about it once I tell them the lenses aren't detachable. So that is no concern, as long as the lens is not detachable. I need to stick around the $300-$350, $400 max price range so I can just do an exchange.
My concern is the lighting and speed. The singer of the specific band I'm most concerned with moves around A LOT, so it will need to capture quickly. And of course the lighting is an issue to keep in mind as well. I had never used a Canon, but now that I've had one and lost it I realized how attached I became. However, if there's a brand that offers better quality for concert photos then I'm willing to part with Canon.