The tactile relationship between the photographer and the camera is important as it can contribute in a positive way to the image making process. The camera should not get in the way of you realizing your vision. The camera should facilitate it. However, to me, the "best" tool has to be a tool that has a very high degree of reliability. Reliability is paramount. An S2 that doesn't work when you need it to work is a very expensive paper weight, not a tool. The S2 may have superb lenses, sublime ergonomics, unique weatherproofing, etc., but if I cannot trust it to perform flawlessly when I need it, I cross it off my list.Pretty much sums up my thinking David.
On tools...I guess no forum member has ever commissioned a wood plane to be made for their personal use...I have two @ $3000 each - a jointer and a smooting plane from a craftsman in New Zealand. I use them on Australian Hardwoods - which have a habit of dulling all but the best and thickest blades and making 'normal' planes chatter uncontrollably.
I doubt very much the veracity of anyone who uses a camera (or any tool for that matter) regularly that doesnt care about his or her 'partnership' with same. I once asked some musician friends of mine if they cared about their instruments or did they just care about the music...they laughed at the idea that one could be seperated from the other - try playing Flaminco guitar on a thin necked Fender etc etc..
This type of discussion which serves to put down the natural phenomenon of tactile relationship with tools as some kind of fetish is beyond insulting it is pure non sense. A type of inverted snobbery at best but to my way of thinking ignorance dressed up as logic.
The first lesson ANY craftsman training is buy the best tools you afford son.
Now as for best - 40 megapixels is pretty much 40 megapixels. Now choose what package you want and work through the associated compromises. The IDEA that ANY ONE camera can do it all - is another stupidity.
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Leica has assiduously cultivated its image in recent years as a "status" brand. A significant percentage of its cameras are sold to people who put them in drawers and the cameras rarely if ever see the light of day. Somehow, I think a company that has seen that as its customer base is unlikely to turn on a dime and be able to make a tool, the S2, for customers with a very different set of expectations and a low tolerance level for a product that is not extremely reliable.