A cool 35mm compact

[Salem]

My compact of choice when I want to travel light is leica iiic with summitar 50/2 and the sunny 16. You can get one for a little more than the price of a contax T2 and when that contax dies on you, well, good luck fixing it.

 

[arealitystudios]

A lot o people have thrown there hat into this thread and there are some excellent suggestions here.

I would actually say a good a choice to look for is the Pentax Espio Mini. You can also find it under the model name of the Pentax UC-1. Same camera.

Unlike a lot of "cool compacts" it hasn't quite achieved that cult like status so you can still find them pretty damn cheap. I bought mine for $20 off some guy in Seattle through craigslist. It's not the most handsome camera, in fact I would say it is pretty damn plain, but the lens is amazing!!! I also love the fact that it can focus down to 1 foot and even has parallax correction in the viewfinder. The size is also perfect for a coat pocket and the clam shell design is handy. It's not quite as small as the popular Olympus Stylus Epic but considering the premium price those camera are fetching now i would look for a UC-1.

 

[Pumalite]

Olympus XA as opposed to XA 2, XA 3 or XA 4. Bill Barber

+1

 

[PentaxBronica]

I've never used one, but saw a Pentax Pino 35 recently and liked the look of it. They don't seem to come up for sale that often which either suggests that they've all fallen apart or their owners are quite fond of them.

 

[michael stevens]

One under-rated and under-priced option would be the Canon Sure Shot Supreme. It's got a very sharp 38mm f/2.8 lens and super-fast autofocus. The image quality is easily on a par with the Mju II, Canon MC, XA et al, but you can still pick them up for next to nothing.

It may be a few more years before it's classed "cool", but bit of a "sleeper" in my opinion.