Yet another "choosing a point & shoot" thread...

[jonball]

I shoot with a D2xs, which is great, but with all the lenses it makes a large rucksack full of kit to take out with me, so I'm looking for a compact digital that I can take with me down the pub and so forth and am looking for any tips.

I've seen there are a lot of similar threads, but as everyone's requirements are slightly different, I thought I'd start another one listing what I'd like...

* The biggest frustration for me when I've borrowed other peoples compacts (or taken pictures on my Nokia N95 phone!) is shutter lag, so my number 1 requirement is minimal shutter lag and shot-to-shot time. The D2xs obviousls spoils me in this respect!

* Image quality is obviously quite important, though not as crucial as shutter lag, as a nice pic of someone's back after they've turned away is of no use!

* It doesn't need to be tiny, but needs to fit into a largish jacket pocket. I don't really care whether it looks stylish.

* Unlike some people here, I don't care at all about a RAW mode.

* I'll mostly be using this in low light indoor locations (pubs, nightclubs and the like) so low light features are important - ability to autofocus in low light, good internal flash balancing without over-exposing foreground objects or constant red-eye, acceptable performance at high ISOs when flash is inappropriate

* I don't need it to be actually waterproof or shockproof, but it does need to be reasonably robust, as I'll be using it in hot sweaty venues at times when I'm not sober enough to be trusted with a DSLR!

* Face recognition seems quite a useful feature, as I'll be taking almost exclusively people photos and this does seem to work on other peoples' cameras I've played with... but is there always a trade-off between this and shutter lag?

* I don't care about video. I've got a camcorder for that.

* Finally, a longish zoom would be useful on occasion, e.g. for taking pics at gigs where photography is prohibited but you can sneak a compact in!

I have a certain brand loyalty to Nikon, as the only digital compact I had was a Coolpix 900 a million years ago, prior to my D1h and D2xs. However, the impression I get is that the modern day Coolpix cameras aren't very good, so I'm willing to look at any brand... even the dreaded rival Canon!

Any suggestions of specific models are welcome. I'm based in the UK but am guessing these sort of consumer products are available globally.