Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 in the field, part 2

I decided to bring the Lumix to interior camping this past weekend.  I used to bring a DSLR with a couple of lenses but considering that we were going to portage, a little less load would help.  I also brought along my old Canon SD110 point-and-shoot as it is easier to carry around (your neck) and also the battery on the Lumix is not that great.  Between the two cameras, I managed to take over 500 shots.

In any case, the Lumix performed great in some cases but really poor in others.  As I expected, with enough light, the pictures came out great.  I have to say however that I am a bit confused how it decided to expose the shot.  In two similar shots, one got exposed for the sky while the other got exposed for the trees.  Now, in the dark shade, it had trouble capturing details.  It is as expected very grainy in poor light conditions.  Perhaps I should have put the camera on automatic mode so it would pop the flash in the dark shade.  I had the camera on aperture-priority mode, the way I have it on my DSLR's.

Here is an example where it totally failed me:

It looks like it exposed for the trees in the background.  As a result, the subject became totally black and there are not enough details to brighten up the subject with.  I did not get a chance to re-shoot unfortunately.

Had I shot this in automatic mode, it would have turned out better.