Quote Originally Posted by Pose
One thing that concerns me would be that I do a lot of low-light photography, and on reviews of both cameras I've noticed complaints of 'purple fringing' around lights at anything below f/4.5..is this common for most digital cameras?

As of right now I'm leaning towards the PowerShot G5 w/ lens adapter & 1.75x Teleconverter. I use a Canon film SLR at the moment, and maybe sticking with what I know (Canon) wouldn't be such a bad idea?.
Canon is an excellent choice, better than the SONY in my opinion.. If you can find a Canon G3, seriously consider it. You lose a MP (4 MP instead of 5MP) but get better results including much less purple fringing and less noise.

All of these small cameras will produce purple fringing. The Color Mechanic plug-in makes quick work of it, however.