offering high ISO is one thing, getting the noise low is another. pana is known to have noisy sensor on their cams. if they manage to keep noise low at high iso, it is really a big improvment for them

compact cam aperture normally can go down to f/8
so in this case at wide, f/2.8~8
at tele, f/3.3~8
ok lah for most shooting

most compacts has aperture at tele from f/5.6. that's why if you zoom, it gets darker

relatively speaking, yes. i'd say noise at iso800 is almost same as pana compact cams at iso200. plus, based on many photos i've seen, it's iso1600 is still pretty usable. noise is still manageable. i don't mind shooting at iso1600 on this cam (when i got one ). it's the only capable compact cam at iso1600, so far.

thnx for informing the review. unfortunately panasonic still hasn't improve on noise! all other aspect of the cam is excellent though