Yeah, definitely rangefinders are great if you have time to play with developing film etc. New D-SLR's are designed as lightweight and easy to use cameras with much better optical performance than any compact camera. I thought in Guy's case a nice little SLR would be perfect. You get your pictures immediately (especially important if you're on the road) and there's really no need to change lenses if you have a nice zoom.
Do you have a Leica, dmg?