Unlike AJ, I think the low-light capability of the P510 is halfway decent for its class; of course I'm not comparing it to any DSLR as the P510 is the best I've got at the moment. If it's all you've got, it's better than nothing and loads better than a P&S, but if you're getting paid to produce, I'd seriously consider borrowing or renting a professional DSLR that has true ISO equivalents of 6400 or better and a sensor rated well in low-light applications. Full-frame 35mm sensors are preferred over APS-C for this type of work; more sensor area means more photons per sensor pixel, for better contrast and lower noise at higher ISO. APS-C have their place; it's not here (though an APS-C DSLR would still fare better than the P510's tiny CMOS).

If you're stuck with the P510, don't lose hope; I've done some admirable indoor-light work with it. Some tips:

• ISO 1600 is the highest you'll want to use with the P510, as the ISO 3200 and 6400 are not "true" ISO settings; they're a post-processing step that further amplifies the ISO 1600 sensor levels. They'll be noisy, and you can do better, even with the native JPEG format, just plugging them into something like Photoshop or Lightroom and using their ISO autocorrect filter.

• Given the above, in a dark club with no real ability to use a fill flash, you'll want the aperture wide open and the shutter set somewhere that will provide a "natural" looking shot while minimizing motion blur. Screw trying to get depth-of-field; people will be dancing, so a shutter longer than about 1/30" will produce unworkable motion blur, and there will be noticeable blur right down to about 1/250" (at which point I doubt you'd get anything). Aperture and depth of field are the least of your worries here; get a clean shot of what you want to focus on and don't try to take in everything crystal clear.

• Get a tripod. There is no way in hell this camera will let you shorten the shutter enough to make hands shaking not an issue. If you need to move around a lot, a tripod becomes a monopod by just collapsing two legs and the spreader, and you'll still take steadier shots.

• There is an "overlay composition" mode; I haven't played with it much but basically it takes a burst of pictures and "sums" them into your final shot; this can cancel noise, increase contrast, or both. It's good for stills in extremely low light, and for certain artistic shots like tracking a laser light show.

• The actual multi-shot burst mode isn't great; you get five frames per second at full res before the shoot/process/store pipeline is full. But, consider it, especially for live-action type shots where you don't have the time or ability to compose the subjects in the frame. Do the best you can, take a burst before the moment passes, and choose the best shot from what you get.

• The fill flash is crappy and there's no way to hook an external flash unit to this camera. If you want good results, don't bother unless it's pitch-black and you're taking shots of faces in the crowd. Try to adjust the camera to get a decently-lit shot using ambient light.

• Experiment. It's a digital camera. You get a preview of the resulting shot in the viewfinder half a second after you click the shutter, and the show will be hours long. Take your time when you have it to compose the shots and adjust the "exposure triangle" to suit the light and artistic needs of the shot. For an "establishing" shot capturing the full venue, a crazy long shutter (1/2" or longer) and a step down on the ISO can give you those fluid-light shots of glow-sticks, spots and lasers. For faces in the crowd, max out the ISO and aperture so you can make the shutter as fast as the light level allows.