R5+RF100-500 vs D850+500 PF

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A shout out in the dark since both setups are calling out to me and there is only £1000 between them in Nikon's favour(£6000 for Nikon, £7000+memory card and spare battery for Canon)

So if I am shooting at 500mm almost exclusively(A 70-200 on my Z6 will solve any closer subjects), which of these is giving the best image or how comparable are they. To be frank, if Canon had a prime RF 500mm of any kind I would have already made my mind up. But till such time I can afford ether set up, but the Nikon one is looking more appealing since its a prime so on the off chance someone here has both I would be delighted to hear some feedback.

I do have a 500mm PF turning up on Wednesday on a rental which I'll use on my Nikon Z6. I do not yet seem to be able to find anyone renting out a 100-500 yet and even at that the rental on the R5 will likely be high given that the 5dIV is close to £200 for 5 days.
 

BeenThere

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The AF options on the R5 would make me pause on the Nikon solution. I would be inclined to wait for an RF 500mm f~5.6 or f~6.2 prime for maybe a year or so. Buy the 100-500mm RF zoom until then, with the intention of swapping it for the prime when available. Sorry, but I can’t help you with the specific feedback you are soliciting.
 
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The AF options on the R5 would make me pause on the Nikon solution. I would be inclined to wait for an RF 500mm f~5.6 or f~6.2 prime for maybe a year or so. Buy the 100-500mm RF zoom until then, with the intention of swapping it for the prime when available. Sorry, but I can’t help you with the specific feedback you are soliciting.

Any feedback is worth consideration and at the end of the day nether lens will last forever. Should add as well, I am considering just using my Z6 with that 500 PF or a 200-500 until the bodies and lenses come out on ether side that take my fancy. I have it here for 6 days from Wednesday(16th). This saves about £2500 to £4000 that can go a long way to a Z mount or RF mount super-tele prime.
 
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Don't you think you should commit to one manufacturer and stick with either Nikon or Canon and not possibly end up with two different camera bodies and lens types?

I don't agree. I almost see my Z6 has a point and shoot that I put lightweight primes on for walking about. The wildlife body is going to have a super tele attached to it and may not necessarily be the body I would want follow my pets about the house with or take on holiday. And these things can always be sold or traded if I want to put all my eggs into one system, but even if I was all in on one, I would still have a 'big' body and a 'small' body.

Right now I use my 5dII with the 300mm f/2.8 for wildlife needs, its that combo that is up for replacement.
 
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digigal

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All I can say is that I had my 100-400 II + 1.4 TC on the R5 today shooting a hummingbird using the eye tracking and it was mind-blowing! I don't know the number of sharp pictures I got--amazing with this combination. Can't imagine how the new 100-500 could be even better.
Catherine
These are all full frame, non cropped pictures and I let the eye tracking do the focusing!
 

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AlanF

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All I can say is that I had my 100-400 II + 1.4 TC on the R5 today shooting a hummingbird using the eye tracking and it was mind-blowing! I don't know the number of sharp pictures I got--amazing with this combination. Can't imagine how the new 100-500 could be even better.
Catherine
These are all full frame, non cropped pictures and I let the eye tracking do the focusing!
Pretty remarkable. Could you please post 100% crops of the hummingbird so we can see the detail.
 
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AlanF

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Don't you think you should commit to one manufacturer and stick with either Nikon or Canon and not possibly end up with two different camera bodies and lens types?
It's one good way of doing things, and sometimes the most efficient and cost effective. But, if you want the best tools for different jobs you might need to use products from different manufacturers. Also, by being willing to use different manufacturers, you force the manufacturers to be competitive in their products and pricing. Airlines, for example, buy from different plane manufacturers and even different manufacturers for engines for the same planes (eg the Dreamliner can be powered by Rolls-Royce or GE engines).
 
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It's one good way of doing things, and sometimes the most efficient and cost effective. But, if you want the best tools for different jobs you might need to use products from different manufacturers. Also, by being willing to use different manufacturers, you force the manufacturers to be competitive in their products and pricing. Airlines, for example, buy from different plane manufacturers and even different manufacturers for engines for the same planes (eg the Dreamliner can be powered by Rolls-Royce or GE engines).

Agreeing with this, also just adding to it that just now one of the best 50mm and 85 mm lenses are the Nikon S and with the camera it came out less than a RF 50mm. £1399 for the body, £500 for the 50, £619 for the 85. So when I bought these I was looking at filling in my sub 200mm range on the cheep and that even if I bought into Canon RF later, that was always going to be for my wildlife stuff so I would never be buying a RF 50mm f/1.2 or RF 85mm f/1.2. I need good versions of these focal ranges, but don't want to spend big money on them.
 
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I don't agree. I almost see my Z6 has a point and shoot that I put lightweight primes on for walking about.

Right now I use my 5dII with the 300mm f/2.8 for wildlife needs, its that combo that is up for replacement.
All I'm saying is that when you are buying lenses that cost over $2,000 each and the lens will only fit one of the three cameras then you'd be spending a lot of money to outfit your two or three cameras. And while I've invested over $10,000 to upgrade to the R5, I'm not ready to spend extra money on a $2,000 "point and shoot" for more lenses. This isn't counting for the lost time in learning and remembering how to do something on different platforms. I was always taught to standardize and minimize the possibilities of losing a shot because you incorrectly did something based upon forgetting which camera you were using. But, hey, opinions are like a-holes, everyone has one.
 
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All I can say is that I had my 100-400 II + 1.4 TC on the R5 today shooting a hummingbird using the eye tracking and it was mind-blowing! I don't know the number of sharp pictures I got--amazing with this combination. Can't imagine how the new 100-500 could be even better.
Catherine
These are all full frame, non cropped pictures and I let the eye tracking do the focusing!
I agree, it is unbelievable. I shot a full-frame image of a model from the waist up and then cropped the image to one of her eyes. Her eyelashes were tack sharp. The resolution of the RAW image and autofocus blew me away.
 
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AlanF

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I agree, it is unbelievable. I shot a full-frame image of a model from the waist up and then cropped the image to one of her eyes. Her eyelashes were tack sharp. The resolution of the RAW image and autofocus blew me away.
I can understand that people find 45 Mpx a revelation if they are coming from one of the lower resolution Canon models, but the resolution of the 5DS and 5DSR has been slightly higher for several years and the D850 the OP is asking about has had a superb 45 Mpx sensor without an AA-filter also for a long time. What I find interesting about the R5 is its eyeAF for birds - I have no expectation of better quality images than from my current gear, just AF tracking.
 
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digigal

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I can understand that people find 45 Mpx a revelation if they are coming from one of the lower resolution Canon models, but the resolution of the 5DS and 5DSR has been slightly higher for several years and the D850 the OP is asking about has had a superb 45 Mpx sensor without an AA-filter also for a long time. What I find interesting about the R5 is its eyeAF for birds - I have no expectation of better quality images than from my current gear, just AF tracking.
I agree! The R5 combines the high resolution with fabulous tracking abilities. Attached is a crop of one of the above hummingbird pictures.
 

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The AF is indeed amazing on the R5, but I am looking more into raw IQ. Getting a AF point on a foxes eye is a lot less effort than on a tiny bird that I'll never* shoot as I haven't ever went out of my way to photograph birds. So just now I am looking at this from the point of view as replacing my 300mm f/2.8 and using something on the R5 or D850 or even my little Z6. For the last decade I was getting sharp shots with the 7D and the 5DII.


* never say never, I might grow to like birds at some point but just now they go all but unnoticed when there are furry and scaly friends about.
 
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AlanF

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The AF is indeed amazing on the R5, but I am looking more into raw IQ. Getting a AF point on a foxes eye is a lot less effort than on a tiny bird that I'll never* shoot as I haven't ever went out of my way to photograph birds. So just now I am looking at this from the point of view as replacing my 300mm f/2.8 and using something on the R5 or D850 or even my little Z6. For the last decade I was getting sharp shots with the 7D and the 5DII.


* never say never, I might grow to like birds at some point but just now they go all but unnoticed when there are furry and scaly friends about.
Don't wait too long - I've just been watching David Attenborough's new programme about extinction, and it's too scary.
 
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