best indoor camera / strong flash

First time poster here -- what a great site!

I've got a Kodak 4 megapixel camera (4400?) that, for the most part, takes fine pictures. Unfortunately, it doesn't do well at all in large rooms where the subject is more than 10 feet away. This is particularly disappointing because some of my most important pictures are concerts where my daughter performs. There are all sorts of indoor settings built into the camera, but I've never been able to get these to work well.

I've been browsing some of the other threads and was intrigued by Photo-John's recommendation of a Canon PowerShot SD850. Unfortunately, one of the weaknesses was "weak flash".

Does anyone have suggestions on a camera that performs well indoors? Would moving to a DSLR help in this instance? I used to have a SLR, but I prefer the point and shoot variety.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Karen

Does your camera have manual controls? If so, forget about the special pre programmed settings and do some experimenting manually. I have a P & S that has 14 different settings, and I don't use any. When I first got the camera, I tried it at a softball game, using the sports setting. I also tried my own settings by choosing the shutter speed, ISO and aperture myself. My manual settings turned out better than the pre programmed sports setting. Since then, I've never tried any of the camera's settings. I decided I'm smarter than the camera.

A correction on my camera : it's a Kodak DX7440 with a 4x optical and a 4x digital zoom.

Yes, it has manual controls. There are several different modes on the camera. I've used the "Auto" and "Scene" modes, but there are also "P(rogram)" (camera sets aperature and shutter speed), "A(perture)", "S(hutter)", "M(anual)" and "C(ustom)".

Are there some general guidelines to taking pictures inside a school gym? Higher/lower shutter speed? ISO? Aperture? I'll also look around the website to see if there are suggestions on settings.

Otherwise, anyone have other camera ideas? I was going to give Santa some helpful ideas.

I'm not a sports shooter, but I'd recommend choosing the highest ISO your camera is capable of. Then, set the camera for aperture priority and choose the largest aperture (smallest number f stop), and these settings will allow for the fastest shutter speed. It generally takes somewhere in the neighborhood of at least 1/500 sec. shutter speed, to stop action. Another method you could try is, once again high ISO, set the camera for shutter priority, and then dial in 1/500 second and let the aperture take care of itself. I've never tried indoor sports with my P & S, so I can't guarantee how this will work. I also don't know anything about your camera. If these methods don't work, you may consider upgrading to a DSLR with a fast lens.

I just found this thread and am very interested. I also take indoor gym pictures. I have a Canon A540 (very disappointed with it for my use, going to replace) and can set the ISO to 800, but since I have to zoom so far to see my gymnast, I get camera shake warnings and blurry pictures all the time. I'd love a DSLR but don't think its in my price range. I've never heard of a fast lens. What is that?
Do you think some of the mega zoom P&S would work? For example the Fujifilm S700 has upto ISO 1600. I am a bit concerned about the image stabilization. Some reviews claim its not Optical Image Stabilization. So I'm not really sure what Fuji is advertising.
I print the photos in 4*6, sometimes 8*10 and crop a bit for scrapbooking. It doesn't seem that I need a super high resolution. I'm not at all opposed to a used camera. Any thoughts

First off, a fast lens is a lens will open to a wide aperture, thus allowing for a faster shutter speed. Secondly, I just read reviews on this Fuji, and from what I read, I doubt it would be very good for indoor sports. In low loght situations, it can take a full second for auto focus to lock in. That's a long time. Also, you'll see degradation at anything over 200 ISO. My panasonic is pretty similar that way. At ISO 200 and under, it's great. I tried one at ISO 400 once, and it stunk.

kberke, Is there a way to get closer to the stage?
If not, I think Mike's suggestions to get faster shutter speeds without flash are going to be your best bet.
Ever see all those flashes going off in the stands at football or baseball games. Those flashes are doing nothing more than lighting up the backs of the heads of the people in front of them. My sb800 flash has a range of 30 ft(supposedly) and its one of the strongest on the market.
I don't know which cameras have stronger flash but its worth looking into but you'll probably also want to find a way to get closer OR you will have to go dslr which will help but its up to you whether you want to spend the money.