"Surely someone else could come up with a digital rangefinder targeted at street shooting, and it could be reasonably small with the micro four thirds format now out there. Imagine a slightly smaller version of an M Leica with coupled rangefinger. I think for the type of shooters that would use it, a 6mp (if micro or even a standard four thirds chip was used), or even better an APS-C of about 8mp. This would mean great low noise shots thanks to current sensor and processor technology - perfect for reportage type work. I would carry a camera like that with me almost every day. I would be happy to pay about Australian $2000 or so for a body like this, as long as there are a small number of good lenses available to go with it.
I did look at the new baby Olympus SLR, but the range of lenses is limited at least for what I want and is still a bit bulky being a reflex camera. There is no wide prime (a fast, 35mm full frame equivalent is what I would want most), the 25mm pancake(50mm equivalent) is great as it is tiny, but a faster version would be better. The 50mm Macro would also be good for portraits (100mm equivalent). I can only imagine it would be very difficult to manually focus in dim lighting though. I certainly don't want to resort to using flash for this style of shooting"
I just don´t understand why if you put all those questions on a formula, and the answer comes as a simple one, no one has told you that...
There is a brand which has BRAND NEWLY DEVELOPED FOR DIGITAL PANCAKE LENSES for street shooting and not one, but TWO good dSLR which are coat pocketable, one of them WEATHER SEALED, at bargain prices, with good quality.
On top of that, you can have the OLDER petite primes, which are faster than the current digital versions, but alas more expensive, covering a total amount of a 15 to 77mm primes [22.5mm to 115.5mm equiv], to your choice.
Alas:
Pentax K200d +
DA 14 2.8
DA 15 4
DA 21 3.2
FA 31 1.8
DA 35 Macro 2.8 [spectacular lens]
DA 40 2.8
FA 43 1.9
FA 50 1.4
DA 70 2.4
FA 77 1.8
Being the 31 the longest of the bunch [if I remember well].
A K200d+ FA 43, specially with the label blackened out [but not apparently that important, as it seems obvious that nobody in this forum -really, not pun intended- remembered that Pentax existed, hence no worries about thieves; there is no market to sell those lenses or bodies] is the perfect machine for street shooting.
Edit:
The K200d, because of being discontinued, has bargain basement prices [but not bargain basement quality]. Were you wanting something even smaller [sloted between the Oly 420 and the K200d] you might want to check out the Km [also, avaliable in camo or olive green].
Edit 2:
And there is the bonus of the only digital fisheye zoom. Which is plain fun on streetshooting.
Edit 3:
[sorry].
There is a very interesting 14mm 2.8 prime. BUT [and it is a big but] it is quite massive, asking for a 77mm filter [where you be wanting it]. In that regard, the 15mm is more subtle and does have a slide out hood, accepting 49mm filters. Although being f4, I´d try it out -it is a very recent lens- to see if it is a fully usable aperture, as the Sigma DP1 is.