the sharpness on the above image of the bag is beautiful compared to the deer (I do believe you may have missed the focus) but a lot of that deals with the available light to the photographer. Given the deer image was taken 20 min after sun down, its pretty amazing IMO) I've been on this thread a while and have not contributed much but here is my take.
a few weeks ago, I shot a wedding in Tahoe, below is an image shot at ISO 2500 (I rarely go up this high during my shoots), f/1.8, 1/100 @35mm. in LR4, I boost the exposure +1.07. all in camera NR was turned off.
I've shot 5 weddings with this camera and I really do love how it's been performing. Like everyone else's problem with the camera, I really do wish the AF point was illuminated. Other than that, i feel like the camera is a solid build. I really cant give you much information about how the camera metering is in different lighting conditions since I am shooting Manual, but if you know your settings, you'll be fine.
AF during the reception has been great. only trouble I ever have is when children are dancing in a circle, all available light is blocked by towering adults so AF becomes a little sluggish; still locks on but you need to give it a little bit of time. I've learn to just perceive distances and just manual focus and shoot (so shooting in low light doesn't really bother me if AF fails me)