Nuts to camera replacement.

Just spent a couple of hours going through the options, and unfortunately (as usual) I have champagne ideas and beer money. Wish there was an easy fix for my poor old samsung, but I suspect the truth is that it's worn out - 7600+ images in less than 3 years with what is just a budget snap shooters camera is probably my lot.

I'd like something a little more pro-quality, and with a larger sensor: the Leica M9 would be ideal*. Most likely I'll just get another hundred quid compact with a few more pixels and some new compromises. I don't want a dozen or more modes, face recognition (I can see them fine myself) and all the rest. What I'd like would be a slightly chunky camera with reasonable quality 5X zoom, general and spot metering, short response times between pressing the shutter and image capture, variable sensitivity between 100ASA and 1600ASA plus the obvious photographic stuff like exposure compensation, auto white balance and fill flash. How many people buying real cameras want to post to facebook directly (those people can already do that from their iPhones)?

The new Olympus Pen models with their micro 4/3 sensor appear to be seriously flawed with poor focus performance (and darn expensive) while the Panasonic version is unaffordable.


*Yes, that WAS a joke. And yes, it would be ideal.

**edit**
I think I've found the tool for the job. Not that it completely fulfills everything, but last year's model, the Canon G10 has full manual control, 5X zoom, good lenses, a pro-sumer build. Best of all, it hasn't been cursed with the dreadful slow handling that afflicts both the G11 and S90 derivative. I've seen them at various prices (even brand new) on ebay, and I'm going to see what's available.

***edit 2***
Despite what some users claim about image quality being outstanding, I've researched a bit more and come to the conclusion that the G10 isn't actually all that great. On one set of test images the dreaded purple fringe was astonishingly strong and detail levels no better than my 'average' budget Samsung. Not impressive considering this is a 15 megapixel camera.

So the search goes on. It's all down to which set of compromises are most bearable - I just wish the manufacturers would stop playing silly beggars, cramming as many daft features into a camera and instead just concentrating on turning out solid performance. They each seem to do some things well, but cannot get their overall act together. Or maybe I'm just nit-picking, and any of them would be potentially excellent.

I also wonder, bearing in mind the incredibly tiny size of a typical compact camer sensor, if the dark patches could be dust grains, and it just needs a 'good' clean?