Here's why you need a DSLR.

See how very little digital noise there is in this picture? It was taken at ISO (ASA for the old timers) 800, which is fairly high for a flash shot inside a domestic residence. My only excuse is that I just got the camera last night and was noodling around figuring out the settings.

You'd have more noise in your image (and less fine low contrast detail) at ISO 200 with most pocket cameras. The only exception is the Fuji line up to the F40fd. The F50fd is going to be worse, if the sample images I've seen are any indication.

Even with a Fuji, you would have worse illumination, as the only Fuji consumer camera with a hot shoe is the S9000/S9100fd, and those cameras suffer from the "Too Damned Many Pixels Syndrome". It's a real pity so many manufacturers are falling prey to this syndrome. Fuji used to be a real ray of hope in this hour of overcrowded photosite darkness, but it looks like their marketing department has managed to win over their design and engineering division.

Pity.

I guess my next consumer grade camera will be this Casio. 6 megapixels on a 1/1.8 sensor at 60(!) full resolution frames per second? Oh baby. I love it when Casio talks dirty.

Image quality and performance are far far far more important than total pixels.