I am quoting myself here, because I have a small update. We were packing to leave on a hike last Saturday afternoon, when my Canon G-7 died. Luckily we weren't at home (where the only camera stores are Best Buy and Costco), we were at my in-law's house, and a good professional camera store was 5 minutes away.

I went there expecting to buy a Canon G-11 or some other point and shoot, but after weighing all my options, and testing a lot of cameras, I ended up buying the Panasonic GF-1 with the 20mm f/1.7 lens. I took the camera on the hike, and LOVED it. Raw file quality is outstanding even at higher ISO settings, the lens is incredibly sharp at f/2 with a beautiful soft fade to the out of focus areas.

It's not for everyone. IMHO this camera makes the most sense with the 20mm pancake lens, and most photographers like zoom lenses. I think the best analogy would be the old Leica CL from 30 years ago, with the 40mm f/2 Rokkor lens. This is a camera for enthusiasts, for photogs who like the wide-normal field of view of the 40mm lens and are looking for very good image quality in a package that fits in a large-ish pocket or a very small waist pack. It's made for deliberative handheld photography, if that makes any sense. A good compact camera for a photojournalist, so it fits the bill for me.

Worth a look, anyway.

--Ken



PS: with regards to the LCD washing out in the sun, I didn't find that to be a huge problem, though there were some times when I was guessing a little at the framing. The final photos were fine. I will likely buy the accessory finder just to be able to hold the camera up to my eye -- the place where cameras are supposed to be held. :-0