I echo Simon's thoughts on the LX5
I sold on our Canon S90 and bought the LX5 as the wife is a Panasonic fangirl and to be honest... so am I now
We just came back from a week in Greece and I was in two minds whether to take the D300s as well, but in the end settled for just the LX5 for the pocketability.
What a brilliant camera, images are great and IMHO is a good deal better than the Canon S90 in many respects, including metering and handling. In fact,most of the 900 shots we took with it need no editing at all. Even low light was impressive and again, IMHO better then the S90. This is the DSLR companion I have been looking for!
We did have a problem though. After about 400 shots, something small broke off from inside the AF mode switch on the lens housing and was rattling around inside. Unfortunately it settled on the sensor and we couldn't shift it - so the last 500 photos have a nasty mark in the top left corner! So I have some cloning to do
Have already sent it back and have no qualms about taking a replacement - I'm sure it was a rare problem - this is a really fabulous compact!
As for a case, we use a Crumpler Pretty Boy XS and it fits in there just fine, although it does end up a wee bit bulky as the case is so well padded. I wonder is the XXS would be better, but you may struggle to fit the neck strap in.
Now a question: PS Elements 8 (MAC) doesn't recognise the RAW files from the LX5, are they different in some way? I can't seem to find a plugin either