[Leica] digital camera question---thanks

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 6:27 AM -0700 5/10/05, Bill Smith wrote:
>Thanks to everyone for their input--my experience streetshooting w/ 
>my 3yr. old, Fuji 6X zoom is poor--that's why I ask the question. 
>The shutter speed and focus are far too slow. No B&W capability and 
>35mm focal length equivalent. Also too big to be discrete.
>
>Right now perhaps the new Ricoh Caplio RX fits the bill best.
>
>MAYBE someone is listening and will produce a 15 or 20 or 25mm fixed 
>(prime) lens, black, compact w/ large LCD, quiet/ high shutter speed 
>(1/ 2000 or plus) and B&W/ color capability. That would be ideal in 
>my book for a "primo streetshooter" IF technically possible.
>
>Any comments on my wishlist of features?
>
>Bill
>
>Simon Ogilvie <simon.ogilvie@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 5/9/05, Didier Ludwig wrote:
>>  The combination of fixed 28mm focal length and a B+W mode makes such a
>>  digicam rather hard to find.
>
>The Canon ixus i5 (Powershot SD20) has a fixed 39mm equivalent lens,
>but the S70 with a 28-100mm equiv. would give better results as it has
>a larger CCD and a better quality lens. Alternatively the Contax i4r
>also has a fixed (Carl Zeiss!) 39mm equiv. lens, but it's discontinued
>now.
>
>Simon.

This doesn't really address you main point, of having a shorter 
(fixed) lens, but has other things to commend it:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf10Zoom/

_FINALLY_ someone has managed to provide decent ISO1600 performance 
into a small point and shoot camera, and into a quite responsive one 
with high image quality at that. The small buffer, the clunky look 
and the lack of viewfinder are downsides, but otherwise it looks 
quite acceptable.

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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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