Advice needed: R7 vs R8 and EF100-400 I vs II

[eakhd]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice regarding some potential upgrades.

As a bit of background, I live in South Africa so the vast majority of my photography is wildlife (birds, animals, natural scenery etc...). I also do some sports photography but don't normally do any shoots of people or portraits.

I'm currently using a 70D and have a few EFS lenses, my main being a Tamron 150-600 (Mk I). I am wanting to do an overhaul of my equipment to upgrade to a mirrorless system over the coming year or two but would like to do so in stages https://xender.vip/ .

Ultimately I am looking for advice on the following:

R7 vs R8? Based on the reading I have done, R7 seems to be the better bet given the type of photography I do although it is not full frame being the only real "downside".

I am looking to replace my Tamron 150-600 with the Canon EF 100-400 but I am wanting to know whether the Mk II is worth the extra money? Based on what I have read, it seems it would be given all the upgrades and with the plan to upgrade the body to the R7, it would still be useful with a 1.4 extender?

Any help or advise would be much appreciated!

[p4pictures]

The difference between the two cameras is more than full-frame vs crop. 

R8 - NO IBIS, R7 - IBIS

R8 - 1 card slot, R7 - 2x card slots

R8 - LP-E17 batteries, R7 - LP-E6NH battereis

R8 - 24MP full-frame, R7 - 32MP aps-c crop

R8 - great low light image and AF performance, R7 - less good low light image and AF performance 

R8 - uses the better R6 Mk2 AF system with equine animal subject detection as well as canine, feline, birds. 

R7 - use the standard R10 / R50 / R3 AF system, one generation behind R6 Mk2 and R8.

The combination of the R7 and EF 100-400mm Mk 1 is not a good pairing. The lens is really quite an old design and was not really intended to the resolution that the R7 sensor provides. R7 32MP is equivalent to 80MP on full-frame.

The older Canon EF 100-400mm Mk1 is much improved on by the EF 100-400mm Mk2. Image quality, AF speed, durability and 4-stop IS vs 2-stops. The comment about the 1.4x extender is less relevant as the mirrorless cameras will focus with a lens + extender combination below f/5.6. 

Hope that helps.