A full-size ISO 400 sample photo to show noise in the shadow areas of G9 images. Noise is apparent in the dark areas in this photo if you view at 100%. But download the image and try printing it at 8x10 and you'll see the 12 million pixels effectively minimize that noise.

Also notice that this photos was taken handheld at 1/8th of a second, thanks to the G9's excellent optical image stabilization.