My old friend, by now...

[David Roach]

EOS R6 RF 100-500 RF 1.4xtc @700 f10 1/1300 ISO 20000 HH, Manual EXP, cropped to pano from horizontal for composition

Haven't been taking the rig on bike rides as the mornings and evenings have been consistently overcast. Did notice the common moorhen chicks I have followed for weeks are now fully fledged yet still hang out with parents even though they now have a new brood. Actually broke down and took camera to get the new chicks despite the overcast conditions. Alas, the parents would not let the youngsters come out of the high grass while I lay nearby. This is the runt posted before with all adult plumage but still in transition to dark greys and browns of the adults. In addition, the beak/shield will soon turn bright red with bright yellow tip. This old friend walked straight at me and finally started to turn when quite close giving this view with very narrow DOF. Crop was from top and right side as I stayed at 700mm and went for portrait. Dealt with noise using sliders in DPP and one round of NI on BG only. Still waiting for some ideal summer golden light...

Thanks as always for very valued comments and help on previous posts

[Jonathan Ashton]

David, this looks pretty good and for ISO 20000 very good. I don't know if other viewers will agree but I looked at this in the standard window then in a new tab then I downloaded and viewed in PSCC. For me the view in PSCC gives a very much better impression of the detail you caught.

[Paul Burdett]

Looks good to me David...plenty of feather detail. Nice background too, although I might be tempted to remove the lowest green oof section below the beak. Interesting plumage colour...so the purple colour transitions to brown?

[David Roach]

Yes Jon, there is even greater detail below the eye and in the lores where feathers are very fine and contrast is lower. At the higher native resolution it looks much more detailed. With A1/R3, it is clear Canon and Sony are pushing each other in all directions. The R3 will have BSI stacked sensor (thank you Sony) and lead again at -7EV AF (thank you Canon) sensitivity which also means even better high ISO performance than this body. A 600 f4 would create very high IQ even with very low light. Good times...

Hi Paul and I considered the same with those slightly brighter areas but liked it also as is. Thanks gents for your always valued help.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Pretty darn good for ISO 20,000. Detail and colors look good, nice pure background. I find the position of the bird in the frame a little awkward, I would have tried rotating the bird and adding canvas in Photoshop if needed. I like the reflection in the eye. Thank you for sharing, David.