To my mind, you've exactly described the Epson R-D1:
I'd like it to be M mount so I could use my beloved small or fast lenses.
Yes. M lens mount, coupled rangefinder with 1:1 magnification viewfinder. Frame lines for 28/35/50. It even has a "film advance" lever, which is used to cock the shutter, so the flow of shooting is really just like with a film rangefinder.
I want it to record in B&W only, because color photography isn't really photography as visually it's too close to reality.
Yes. Set it to monochrome mode and the RAW preview JPEG is B&W. (And, of course, if you select JPEG-only, then that's B&W.)
I'd prefer it without screen, because what I like the most about photography is the time gap between shooting and seeing images: if I don't use it, I don't want a screen there.
Yes. It has a screen, but it's articulated so you can turn it around and hide it. Once that's done, you have to closely examine the markings on the analog top-plate controls to see that it's not a film camera.
One easy 2-position button for Metered Manual or Autoexposure.
Yes. The top-deck shutter speed dial has an "A" position for aperture-priority AE. Move it off "A" and you're manually selecting shutter speeds.
One easy 4-position button for low(100)/medium(400)/high(1600)/very high(6400) ISO.
Mostly. There's a traditional top-deck ISO dial -- pull up and turn to set ISO between 200 and 1600 in full stops. There's no ISO 6400 on the R-D1, but 1600 is remarkably good, especially in B&W. And you have access to a traditional, analog top-mounted exposure compensation dial for another two stops of "push" or "pull" if you want in post-processing.
Of course shutter speeds for metered manual, and shutter release.
Yes. Traditional shutter speed dial, with both selected and metered speeds visible in the viewfinder. And the shutter release is has standard threads for cable or soft release.
Yes.
High resolution JPG only.
Yes. Can be set to high-res JPEG only, but "high res" is limited by the 6 MP sensor.
I don't care about sensor size.
OK -- APS-C sensor, 1.5x crop factor vs. 35mm film.
And the most important to me would be the main “contrast” button on top, with three fast and easy to access positions: a)Direct sun/contrast pull... b)Overcast/shadows... c)Dull scenes/contrast push: recording contrast the way I want, with an easy button for quick options similar to the ways I expose/develop when I shoot film, is what I miss a lot on digital cameras insisting on menus and submenus... This is the only button I'd care about while shooting both sides of the street...
That's the one that doesn't quite fit your requirements. There's a traditional exposure compensation knob, and a dedicated white-balance control, but contrast control is not available via a hardware selector. In the menus, you can configure 3 "film type" presets, where you can assign edge-enhancement, saturation, tint, contrast and noise reduction values. But you switch between film presets via the menu, so if you want to manage this on a shot-by-shot basis, you wouldn't be able to pretend there's no screen.
Sometimes I feel recording the right contrast and quickly deciding about that, is the weakest part of digital cameras for fast street shooting... And post-processing RAWs or badly exposed images is a limited procedure, and also one that goes against one of the funniest parts of photography: the goal of recording light the way we want precisely when we hit the shutter...
Well, I have to argue with you a bit here. With film, we don't have contrast controls in-camera; we can only control exposure with the camera, apart from use of contrast filters on the lens (which isn't any more convenient to vary from shot to shot than going into a menu system). Otherwise, contrast is controlled by a combination of film development, printing paper grade or contrast filters and print development -- which, I would argue, is only more fun than digital post-processing if you prefer fixer-stained fingers over carpal tunnel syndrome (a highly personal choice, I guess).
Definitely not!
🙂
::Ari
