Here are the better sample images from a weekend shoot with the Panasonic TZ5 pocket camera (9 mp, 280 mm eff. zoom). This camera IMO is the best of the cameras less than 1-1/2 inches thick, mainly due to the 280 mm zoom, since I shoot mostly at maximum zoom. I considered the Canon G9 briefly, and decided against it because of the lesser zoom, the extra size, and lower build quality and reliability.
The bunny shows almost no noise except in the darker area below the chin. The damselfly was cropped quite a bit and is slightly ragged, but looks OK from arm's length. The flower was shot in good daylight up close, so no bad effects there. The lion was taken from behind a glass wall at about 50 feet distance, and is pretty clean. Lastly, the turtle image used ISO 400 and shows the infamous Panasonic noise reduction artifacts clearly, particularly on the turtle's face. You can actually sharpen an image like this without increasing the apparent "grainy" or "noisy" effect, since the noise is now gone and replaced with all those high-relief edge artifacts.
This last issue of extreme noise-reduction artifacts is why I think the 28 mm short end of the zoom is laughable on this camera, and possibly others, for taking "landscapes". I could barely stand to look at landscapes taken with my Leica M6 using 100 ISO film, let alone any of the 35mm-equivalent digital cameras.
