Sadly, I fear that there are a few camera club judges out there who will say that it's not a bad image, although what a pity that the fox is not better positioned and that we cannot see all of it ........
After the talk, much of which featured Peters' impressive efforts to shoot the wildlife in his garden rather than the more exotic locations he has visited, there was some Nikon gear on hand to try out. Not having ever really handled a Nikon DSLR previously*, I picked one up with a 500 f/4 lens and took a candid headshot of someone on the opposite side of the room. Viewing the EXIF data revealed that the shutter speed was 1/60 and in the dull conditions the ISO was 25,600. Zooming in on the image seemed to indicate that it was sharp with no apparent noise.
So I enquired of one of the reps as to how much such remarkable performance costs. It was a D4s body, which I correctly guessed was around £4k, but I was a bit out on the lens when I suggested £5k. The rep said £10k, although checking on the Internet shows there are two Nikon 500 f/4 lenses, the more expensive of which is £8k. I am not sure that the demand for low light candid portraits is really there, but should the need ever arise Nikon surely has the necessary kit.
* When I had to ask how to operate the camera, the Nikon rep knowling said "Ah, a Canon user". That's not entirely correct in my case and "not a Nikon user" would be more accurate.
