[Leica] Compact Camera Conundrum

[vroger at gmail.com (Victor Rubin)]

David Rodgers was looking for a replacement for his G2.
Dear David:
I can only speak from personal experience. At this stage of the game I have
gone through 9 digital p/s and one DSLR. I still use them all. I have
unofficially "retired" about 4 of them. The Canon 300D (first Rebel) DSLR is
very good but bullky. I have been trying to get a replacement for the "feel"
of the M6. The closest I came was actually the Digilux 1- which has no
shutter lag and a great lens, but the noise is so overwhelming above ISO
100, that it is virtually unusable.Scratch that one. I have a Canon G4. It
is so good (except for maddening shutter lag) that I bought a G5, they both
give me a rangefinder feel. As for Lumixes- I have an FZ20. Advantage here
is relatively small size for a EVF unit, and a 2.8 lens that doesn't lose
speed as you zoom to 12X. Disadvantage- slow startup, small EVF. Lens is
good, however.. When I handled the FZ30 it was a great improvement so I went
THAT route- again the noise was somewhat high- but not as bad as the
original Digilux 1. Also, the lens speed reduced as you zoomed out, but he
loss of that feature is offset by a really good hgih speed focussing system
and a larger EVF. It does NOT however give a rangefinder feel and is
somewhat DSLRish. The new FZ (50) which I *don't* own is supposed to have
reduced the noise somewhat even at higher ISO's. The latest goes up to 1600,
I believe. I finally *settled*, last year on a Canon G7. I am not really
satisfied yet. The G7 has everything you could want ...or not- Unusable
ISO of 3200, lower ISOs 1600, 800 etc. with noise- (the Lumixes only go to
ISO 400). Stabilization (which you say you don';t need) and an f 2.8 rather
than an f2 lens. It has the feel of a rangefinder -rather like using my CLE-
I conclude that I shall not buy another digital rangefinder like unit until
after I have read comprehensive reviews and the noise levels are acceptable.
I do require an optical viewfinder. I will NOT spend $5,000.00 on an M8.
Absolutely not. I also have 3 sub compacts which are quite good- but as with
all teeny cameras, the capturing device is so small there are limits as to
what your results are. Still, I have blown images up to 20X30 (that's right
20X30- with no noise) from subcompacts with 4 megapixels. So that's my
story. My advice, such as it is,  would be to read reviews extensively. Do
not necessarily buy a new digital- a used G5 is very affordable and one of
the best cameras. It holds up better than some of the new ones feature wise.
Do not be swayed by bells and whistles and rest assured that a competition
for the M8, probably with a fixed zoom is being worked on by someone right
now. Bests: vroger

My results are at: vroger.smugmug.com see the "exif" to get the cameras
used.