majid
Fazal Majid
I have ideas, of course, but you may find the Serious Compacts blog interesting.
Implicit in your question is the assumption that the compact camera should be as close as possible to the Leica gestalt. That's not necessarily the case, someone could well get a camera that is complementary instead.
The compact equivalent to a Leica would be a digital Minilux or Contax T3. The requirements for such a camera have been described in detail by Thom Hogan or Mike Johnston.
My versions of the requirements would be:
- Fits in a jacket pocket. If it can fit in a shirt pocket, even better. It cannot be larger than a CL.
- Excellent low-light performance. In practice that means a 4/3 or APS-C sensor, although the Fuji F30/F31fd has excellent low-light performance (I own a F31fd).
- Compact (pancake style or less so it fits in the pocket), fast aperture and very sharp lens. In practice that means a prime lens.
- Fast shutter lag and response time (cycle time is less important, as long as it can sustain 1fps like a MP).
- Quiet and discreet
- Full creative control over aperture and focusing
- RAW format
- High build quality
My ideal camera for these requirements would be a digital Contax T3 with an APS-C sensor that would turn the 35mm f/2.8 lens into nearly a 50mm f/2.8 (50mm equivalent is the focal length I use most of the time with my Leicas).
You could argue that a M8 fitted with a fast pancake lens like the new Voigtlander 35mm f/1.4 is sort of pocketable. In a way, the M8 would be the pocketable companion to my Nikon D3 if the 35mm Summilux didn't stick out so much.
It flunks requirement #2. In many ways this is just a glorified compact.
The Lumix Leica lenses are good, but it flunks #2 even more badly than the G9.
The film GR-1v was definitely Leica-worthy, but the digital version is just another glorified compact with a tiny, nasty sensor.
Still flunks #2. Not even made by Nikon, probably by Sanyo.
Flunks #2.
That's what I opted for (it should ship next week). Superlative sensor and optics, I have seen output from the SD9 side by side with that from a Canon 1DsMkI, and they were comparable, the Foveon technology is far from just hype.
The shutter lag and responsiveness is reportedly so-so. This is the camera Leica should have come up with instead of the me-too rebadged Lumixes. If Sigma could do it, so could have Leica (Sigma is good at mass-produced optics but less so at electronics, as amply demonstrated by the long lead time on the DP-1 between the original announcement.
I just wish the effective focal length were closer to 50mm and the lens were faster than f/4, but Sigma has confirmed they are working on sucessor DP-2 and DP-3, so there is some hope there.
The Fuji F31fd is a second option, but it is discontinued (the few that are available on eBay are snapped up at more than twice the original price) and the lens does exhibit quite a bit of CA.
Another option to consider is the very compact Olympus E-420 with the 25mm f/2.8 (50mm equivalent), which is barely larger than a Canon G9. The reflex mirror probably fails #5, though.