The crops are sharp and detailed, and as you’d hope at 100 ISO there’s little noise to worry about. Despite the high contrast areas, there’s also no coloured fringing.

The TZ3 selected the smaller of its two apertures, but the background isn’t as blurred as we’d like.

The increase to 200 ISO hasn’t resulted in any loss of quality here though and the crops are again sharp and detailed.

There’s plenty of detail in the crops, but like other TZ3 samples taken at 280mm, the overall image is lacking contrast. This appears to be one of the few compromises of the TZ3’s lens though and it’s easily boosted in software afterwards if desired.

Even with an increase to 400 ISO, the low light meant an exposure of 1/8, although the stabilisation has kept the image sharp.

The increase in sensitivity has however resulted in noticeably higher noise levels, and some smudging due to noise reduction.

To be fair to the TZ3, we’ve seen worse, but that said, it’s still best to reserve 800 ISO for smaller prints or emergency use.

Sadly the image stabilisation hasn’t managed to completely protect the 1/8 exposure from all wobbles, but the exposure and white balance are spot-on.