OK.. Enough. I love my Canon 7D MkI and 100-400 MkI but its time. I've been patiently waiting for the 7D MKIII but who knows if that will ever come. So... If you were to add/replace one item to this bag what would you do?
Canon 7D MKII
Canon 100-400 MKII
used Canon 600mm MKII, MKII
used Canon 500mm??
..a 5D??
I mainly shoot wildlife and in particular songbirds. Fast shutter, low light, and reach is essential.
I shot with a Canon 7D MkI and 100-400mm Mk1 for about 5 years. I now shoot entirely with M4/3 gear for weight/size reasons. I shoot a lot of wildlife but I have never been tempted to go for a 500mm or 600mm lens because of the weight/cost, so I am not really qualified to comment on your lens options.
Under normal circumstances I would suggest upgrading to the 7D MkII on the basis that that would probably give you the greatest improvement. The 7D MkI is now 10 years old and there have been very significant changes in sensor technology in that time. I would expect modern APS-C sensors to be at least 1 stop better in terms of high ISO noise.
However, the situation is extremely complicated at the present time because of the changeover to mirrorless. Here is my personal summary of the current situation for wildlife bodies.
- For professional purposes the top two wildlife bodies are undoubtedly the Canon 1DXii and the Nikon D5 because of their ruggedness, reliability and choice of lenses.
- The Nikon D500 is the best APS-C DSLR for wildlife with significantly better AF than the 7Dii (and possibly better than the 1DXii and D5?).
- The top mirrorless wildlife bodies like the Sony A9, Fujifilm XT2, Olympus E-M1X and Panasonic G9 have significantly faster fps rates than even the 1DXii and D5, have totally silent shooting and have many other functions suitable for wildlife than DSLRs simply do not have. I can go into some of those if you want me to. However, they do not have the lens selections that Nikon and Canon DSLRs and probably never will.
- No mirrorless bodies have yet reached the continuous AF capability of the D500 but they are getting close. Moreover, object tracking technology is improving rapidly, especially Sony's, and I personally expect the next generation of mirrorless bodies to have better AF than any DSLR.
- Neither Canon nor Nikon has yet released a body aimed at wildlife/sports photographers (but maybe they will before the Tokyo Olympics next year). The Z6/7 and Canon R and RP bodies have poor high speed shooting rates and relatively poor AF. However, they do appear to work well with Canon/Nikon DSLR lenses and an adapter. So, IMHO, both Canon and Nikon have the capability to produce a top class wildlife/sports mirrorless body in the next couple of years.
So, my suggestion is that you wait until Canon announces their pro quality mirrorless body. In the meantime you could consider getting a used 7Dii and spending the rest of your money on one of your lens options.
