A good camera for Low Light with nice quality picture?

I'm not a tech geek, and want to graduate from my existing point & shoot camera to something more complex.
I would like to buy a semi SLR camera. It should have a very good performance in LOW LIGHT and have a decent optical zoom. Quality should be close to SLR like.

My favored brands are Nikon or Canon. Can you please recommend me the Right Cameras for me.

Here are two entry level dSLR cameras.

The Nikon D5100 and Canon T3i/600D

http://www.dxomark.com/...nd2)/Canon

As you can see, the Nikon has the better performing sensor in low light

Well first there's no such thing as a semi SLR because an SLR is a film camera so it's either an SLR or it's a smaller film camera but no semi. Quality close to SLR like can happen with smaller film cameras but of course there's the lenses, the view finder you see what the lens is seeing and a number of other things. For low light you'll need higher ISO (ASA) film as in the 400 and above range.

If you want to discuss digital cameras then I would recommend a DSLR. Any model in the Canon Rebel line will do nice work. I own two of them and they're excellent. For low light you'll either want to learn time exposure or buy a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Low light is tricky at best and requires some skill to make it work well.

I highly recommend the Canon EOS Rebel T3i. It is one of the best cameras in the market now.

It has ISO 100 - 6400 for shooting from bright to dim light. Other features include:

- 18.0 MP CMOS sensor and DIGIC 4 Image Processor for high image quality and speed
- Vari-angle 3.0-inch Clear View LCD monitor (3:2) for shooting at high or low angles and 1, 040, 000-dot VGA with reflection reduction
- Video Snapshot features for enhanced video shooting options
- Comes with camera body, EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Type II lens, eyecup, wide strap, USB cable, AV cable, battery, and charger

http://www.amazon.com/...004J3V90Y/

Read this review from an actual user on the over all Performance of the camera:

http://www.amazon.com/...RQJXIOBDC/

At the professional level Nikon is far superior in low light. I trust that some of that technology has found it's way down to the less expensive cameras. YOu can't go wrong with NIkon or Canon at the same price point. I'd lean to Nikon for low light.

Something cheaper
canon 310hs
google it