Hi Been lurking for a while, mainly on the archive, but thought I'd join in this one.
I think the MZ-S is a one off classic like the LX. The *ist is the first film camera in the new range, and the MZ series is probably at an end, along with any possibility of new lenses with an aperture ring. In fact I think it's likely that there won't be any more new lenses with full 35mm frame coverage, although they'll continue to produce some of the current ones, in the same way as they still produce some manual focus A series lenses. They are tooled up for it after all. I think the major developments will be in digital and the DA lens range. I hope they will release some decent fast primes in this, particularly wide angles as the telephoto end is covered by the existing 35mm lenses. One possibility is the release of an APS film SLR to complement the digital range. It could use the DA lenses after all. As an aside, I currently use an MZ-S mostly with primes, and also have a KX ad MX that get occasional use. I have used FAJ lenses with the MZ-S and haven't found the lack of an aperture ring to be a problem - just use shutter priority to change the aperture, and exposure compensation to change the exposure (although AE lock is easier). You just can't use manual exposure, which I rarely do on the MZ-S. All my own opinions (rantings?) of course. Nick.