i'm not sure about the price... but canon g11 and panasonic LX3 sound promising... there are several article about both camera by one professional photographer that i always follow..
check this out
http://laurencekimblog.com/index.php...ory=16&start=0
some images from the blog...
canon g11
panasonic LX3
hope can help...
credit to the owner of the forum and pic~mr laurence from
http://laurencekimblog.com