What I want in my next digital camera: An improved Canon G2

John's Digital Photography Page

I was thinking again about what I want to replace my G2. Turns out, not all that much! It's all technically possible, but I fear "market failure" (the bane of my existence) will rear its head and divert the market in other directions.

Basically I want an improved G2 for about $500 to $600 US. Including:

1. JPEG2000 rather than JPEG. (Better color range, better edges with fewer artifacts at higher compression.)

2. 6 megapixel is fine.

3. ISO 800 with minimal noise.

4. Faster cycle time, image throughput, etc. (16 bit internal bus, faster internal storage, faster image acquisition, firewire or usb 2.0 etc)

5. Image quality (color, etc) as good as the G2. Favor lens quality over increased zoom.

6. Fix the minor bugs and usability problems I put on the page I reference here.

7. Image stabilization for handheld shooting at 1/15 sec.

8. Fix the built-in flash's defective exposure control -- but keep the hot shoe!

9. Comparable quality, reliability, and ruggedness.

None of this is demanding. All of these things appear in today's cameras -- indeed they already offer more megapixels than I'm asking for. I DON'T want an SLR. They're too big, have dust problems, too expensive, I like the swivel LCD on the G2, etc.

The question is -- will the market deliver what I want? I fear it will deliver both far more, and, critically, far less.