MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I'm still humming and harring on this - basically I'm wanting to step up from a point and shoot camera to something with more involvement and control that I can grow into; practically speaking, something smaller than dSLR is what I need.
Previous consensus seems to be Panasonic GF2 or Olympus whatjamajigger as the best packages - is that still the case? And is the lack of EVF in either case a hindrance, or are they still all the camera you need in rangefinder mode?
Cheers
You have two choices. You can get very advanced non-ILCs that have full manual control and the works. Some with pretty good lenses too, and often viewfinders.
To take advantage of an ILC you need more lenses, which pushes the price up.
What's your budget?
I've just bought a Nikon coolpix P510 today, was in the same boat as you....didn't want an slr yet, but wanted something more advanced than a point and shoot. Only took a couple of snaps but it looks impressive. Now need to work out what it all does!.
I think realistically £600 or so, with potential for more investment in lenses later. The OH has a Canon G10, which seems pretty good, with a fair amount of manual control built in. No idea on the quality of the sensor, but again, she's looking around for the next step in camera terms.
That's a good budget. Olympus EP-3 would be nice, or if you can stretch to £900 the OM-D E5 is absolutely fantastic. Better image quality than a lot of SLRs, and comes with a built-in electronic viewfinder rather than a tack-on job. Incidentally the EVF allows you to view all the effects and settings etc in real time, which is c00l.