The LX3 will suit you best - unprecedented image quality.

About the Ricoh, I'm not convinced - it isn't a very popular brand so you might encounter some difficulty when you have problems with it.

I have no product knowledge of the Ricoh so Google a bit around and see what pops up. Apologies as I don't have access to a computer as of now, therefore I can't help you to source out reviews.

Good luck making your choice.

Yes, LX3 is quite good at macro. You can check it out at http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/915980

The LX3 was made for general shooting in mind. Though it lacks zoom capabilities compared to other choices, its image quality kicks the others into the dust.

Hi there, I'm a LX3 user too. For your information, the shutter speed and the aperture can be set without going into the menu. You just play with the joystick will do. For me, the G10 is quite bulky and LX3 has a slightly better noise control. LX3 has a very wide angle lens (24mm) and this can come in handy for you to snap group photo and scenery shot.

The disadvantage of the LX3 is that it lacks of a userful zoom range at native resolution. You can get extended optical zoom by lowering the resolution. If my memory serves me right, you can get 4.5x optical zoom when you lower down your resolution to 4M/3M. I would say the digital zoom is not that bad. If you need to shoot something very far badly, it may help you.

Just my humble opinion. 

Hmm.. The most interesting thing of the LX3 to me is the 24mm wide-angle at F2.0. F2.0 allows us to create bokeh effect more easily if compare to other F2.8 compact cameras.

You may read more about the TZ5 (TZ7 review isn't available yet at dpreview.com) @ http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q408enthusiastgroup/