While I spent _most_ of the day shooting the Nikon 1 V1 with the 30-110 zoom, I did play with the Panasonic GH2 paired with the 100-300 zoom. Looking at the pictures now, it’s obvious that the Panasonic is doing much better than the Nikon at the zoo. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in the Nikon as most of the shots weren’t particularly sharp. I think that I’ve isolated the issue – the long end of the 30-110 zoom isn’t that great. It’s better at the shorter end but at the end of the day it’s still a kittish type zoom. The Panasonic Lumix G Vario 100-300/F4.0-5.6 in comparison is a step above and it’s working with a larger sensor. And it’s twice as expensive. So I shouldn’t be surprised.
I am going to give the Nikon 30-110 another chance though. It was after all my first time shooting with it, and I’ve always said that you need to take 1,000 shots with a lens to become familiar with it. So the test will continue.