Panasonic LX2 - This one has been around for a little while now but I still think it's the best (I own it), It has a fantastically brilliant image stabilized 4x zoom starting at 28mm lens and takes pictures (and video) in a 16:9 ratio as standard. It's controls are easy to get the hang of and it's images can be quite stunning. I'll admit that it is noiser than the others mentioned here (and I would like a hotshoe), but the lens and build quality are fantastic, little pop up flash is fun too. It would take alot of me to swap this for a different model, none of the others offer what this one does and it's defiantly my pick. *if your going to shoot JPEG the Lieca version is slightly better - RAW is the same
Canon G9 - This is probably the most popular one - it comes from a long tradition of "G" series cameras. It's lens is fantastic, image stabilized, but at 35mm it's not wide enough for me - it does however zoom to 210mm - so if your into telephoto shots this is the pick of the bunch. It's feels good in the hand and has a hotshoe for external flash as well as a dedicated ISO wheel, a hard one to beat (also 12mp over the 10mp of the others here). If only it had a 28mm lens and was slightly less bulky...
The Ricoh GRD II - Who needs a zoom anyway - the whole point of point and shoot camera is to point and shoot. The fixed 28mm lens on this camera is the best you'll find and it's controls and versatility are great, it's the most compact in this class and is aimed squarely at pro's pockets - I keep looking at it but have to say I'm still happy with my LX2. It'd be great to take this as a wide angle camera and the G9 for telephoto work. Almost no distortion in the lens, very nice.
Ricoh GX100 - If you like the sound of the GRD but just can't live without the zoom - here you go. 24mm-72mm and you trade some pocket space, everything else is pretty much the same. As of writing this the GX200 has just been announced, looks to be 12mp over 10mp and a faster RAW capability.
This is the Canon G9 fully kitted out with flash and wide angle lens attachment. You may as well be carrying an SLR. *Thanks to photographyBLOG for the image
