Pretty unimpressive, IMO. Even the stopped down shots seem pretty soft, the bokeh wide open is of the "interesting" type, not the smooth type. I imagine it's fun to shoot with, but first impressions lead me to believe that a GF1/20mm f/1.7 combo would give you better quality at the end of the day.
Okay. Seriously. i just bought a used Leica M6. Manual everything. I was trying to shoot in a low-lit place. What a pain in the ass. At that point, I would have loved ANY digital camera. I'm pushing my 400 film to 800 ISO, and I shot such a slow shutter speed, who knows if any of the shots will come out. Then again, I asked for it. I brought film that wasn't adequate for the lighting. I wasn't sure what the lighting would be, but I burned an old B&W roll to see if the camera even works. Outside, luckily, there were some Harleys lined up. I got a good shot of those. (I wanted film, that's what ya get. I'm so used to digital, I forgot how to load a damned camera. Sad, huh? Digital is convenient at times.)
My point is, I wanted a P&S digital that is easy to use, nice features, shoot RAW, zoom lens, built-in flash, and lovely files. I don't want 4/3 cameras, just a good point and shoot. I would like it for back-up on the M6. I read all of your frustrations and agree. There's nothing perfect out there.
Pretty soon we'll all be playing with Mr. Potato head, due to insanity of the search.
You'd be surprised at how low you can go on shutter speed with an M6 or similar camera. 1/15 is quite doable, 1/8th for those with steady hands.
Film choice is an issue, which is why I prefer to have two bodies in any mount I actively shoot, and ideally 3. I load fast B&W in one, slow colour or B&W in the other.
I only have old film, outdated. I had a roll of Tri-x 400, pushed it to 800. I couldn't recall how high you could push that film. I wish I pushed it to 1600, if that were even possible. It's been a while since I've used any film camera. This is my 1st Leica film camera.
As for P&S digitals, I love them. Just haven't found a good one yet. I was thinking of leica d-lux 4 as a good all around camera. It has flash, zoom, raw, pretty good quality, shoots macro. If there is another camera like that, but better, I'd sure like to know about it.
Matter of fact, I think I saw an issue of Outside magazine hanging around here with some nice small p&s cameras in it. (I have a Canon G9, but find it dog slow in taking pictures, and the files aren't the greatest when shot in low light, or blown up. Too bad though. Seemed almost the perfect P&S.)
Still, with all of limitations on the Leica M6, due to all of the handy, dandy digitals, to me, it's still something special. Having never owned one, it's always been a dream.
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