Originally posted by revenant
Why without flash? In some circumstances, flash is quite essential too. eg. Shooting people in the night.]
Flash makes the scene look totally different. Surely you want to do better than red eyes, hotspots and a totally black background?
And you may not want to draw attention to yourself. Flash is the easiest way to get attention from a mile away.
But the sad thing is most camera comes with buiilt-in flash
Yes, but you can choose not to use it. Typical P&S zooms are 35-xxx, and apertures from f/4.5 to f/9 or even smaller! Even at the wide end, f/4.5 is very slow compared to a decent f/2.8. And who can resist zooming in "just a little"? It doesn't take much imagination to see that you lose even more light this way.
A slow lens restricts many photo opportunities. Low light is a good time to get interesting lighting.
Another thing is the number of elements. Zoom lenses typically have many elements. 8 to 9 is not surprising. While sharpness can be maintained, contrast is definitely less than one with just 4 elements: the more glasses, the less contrast and more flare. It's basic lens theory. (with some assumptions made, of course)
Not to mention the weight..
In closing, if you are just going to use it a few times a year, don't bother. Just get a disposable camera!