Quote:
Of course compared to my 10D the Panasonic isn't really a f/2.8 lens

I agree with the noise issues, but the other place this gets interesting is when you compare depth of field. I've been playing with the online depth-of-field calculator. For a 300mm lens on my Nikon D-SLR at f/5.6 shooting a subject at 20ft, the depth of field will be about .7 feet. The calculator says that your Panasonic (55.2mm at the long end) gets about 2 feet of DOF at f/2.8 at the same distance. For a compact camera, that's pretty good compared to many smaller cameras that have huge DOF that you may not necessarily want.

(Random question: why should the depth of field change as a function of the sensor size? If I plug in a 55.2mm lens at f/2.8 on a 35mm film camera, I get 16 feet of DOF. Any idea what's going on here?)