NZ Stitchbird male - Hihi

[Tony Whitehead]

Image made on Kapiti Island. The Stitchbird is a threatened rare endemic and only survives in predator free island sanctuaries and Karori sanctuary( a mainland sanctuary isolated by a predator proof fence). Because the population is intensively monitored it is unusual to find a bird without rings so this one is extra special to me.
Nikon D700
Nikon 200-400 @400mm
Shutter priority 1/125 f4
ISO 1600
SB900 flash

[Stu Bowie]

Great flashwork Tony, as you have brought out the colours nicely, especially the blacks. I like the pose, and great job with the noise at ISO 1600. Overall, how does the D700 handle noise at high ISO's.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Great exposre and detail. Congrats on a great find.

[Randy Stout]

Tony:

Great story, I appreciate the natural history lesson.

Lovely background,nice composition.

My only other thought is that the eye seems just a bit soft to me. I have looked at it a couple of times.

Thanks so much for sharing this rare bird.

Randy

[Doug Brown]

Congrats on a great find Tony! No band is icing on the cake. ISO 1600 looks pretty darn good on the D700. Agree with Randy about some selective sharpening of the eye. Do you recall what your flash exposure compensation was?

[Indranil Sircar]

Beautiful composition, Tony. Great background and lighting. Love the details.

[Ramon M. Casares]

So little light and such a great result! I was wishing for more DOF but I think that was not possible due to the little light you were working in. I like the pose, BG and comp. Congratulations!

[Ilija Dukovski]

Great image, difficult light, the white head patch is a bit flat,
and eye comments as above...
other than that this is great, well composed, I like the BG
balance of lights and darks.

D700 seems to match D3 noise-wise at ISO1600, do you agree?

[Simon Bennett]

Nice clean shot of a Hihi. I think I can see a slight hint of flash-induced steel-eye in the eye, could be worth darkening that.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Hi Tony!

Beautiful bird! Thanks for sharing.

Lovely image, my only suggestion would be to lighten the BG a bit.

[Tony Whitehead]

Congrats on a great find Tony! No band is icing on the cake. ISO 1600 looks pretty darn good on the D700. Agree with Randy about some selective sharpening of the eye. Do you recall what your flash exposure compensation was?
Don't recall 100%, Doug. Was still fine tuning exposure when he pitched up. My guess is around -0.67.

[Tony Whitehead]

D700 seems to match D3 noise-wise at ISO1600, do you agree?
Yes, D3 and D700 seem equivalent in term of image quality and noise - it is amazing at high ISO - 3200 and 6400 very usable. I initially got it for stage and theatre work but find it is my body of choice now unless I absolutely need extra reach when I use the D300.