A tale of three cameras and their low light ability. Three photos taken to compare, all at 800 ISO, 1/6 second, F5.6, same lens, 55mm, all at max resolution of camera. The photos are about 5% of the width of the original images. First (left) is my Nikon D40 (2007). Only a 6M pixel sensor - which results in better low light behaviour than my replacement for it, the D3200 (middle image), 2013. I replaced the D40 as the lens was getting wonky, had no image stabilisation and wanted faster focus and frames per second for sports (kung fu grading). Hadn't realised how much worse the noise level was due to the higher pixel count (24MP). Recently took some photos at a play, with contrasty but dim lighting, and the noise level was awful, which prompted me to checkout what's available now - and found the Nikon D7200 (body only) at a much reduced price (about to become discontinued, I suspect) - a "prosumer" level camera, introduced 2015, but the sensor quality is way ahead of the D3200. It also works with my wonderful prime lenses bought for a film SLR in 1990 (50mm f1.4 and an amazing 85mm f1.8) which should work extremely well in low light conditions as mid-telephotos. Most impressed with D7200 (the current D7500 loses the aperture finder and second memory card slot - and costs twice as much).