To answer your question, yes I have shot with the 100-500 and its a nice sharp lens.Have you shot with the RF 100-500mm? Have you used modern noise reduction software? If you haven't, I can tell you you won't detect any noticeable image degradation at iso 800. On a sunny day for fast birds in flight, a typical exposure for me would be 1/3200s, f/7.1, iso 800. You can shoot a couple of stops of iso higher than that and still not worry about image degradation. And how often does bokeh, @Birdshooter, seriously affect your bird photos? For close-ups, you have to stop down anyway because the depth of field is so shallow at 500mm. It's only when it it gets really dark would I appreciate an f/4. Anyway, f/7.1 and even f/11 is good enough for me, but, fair enough, might not be good enough for you.
Don't talk to me like I don't know what I am doing... lol
My base ISO for wildlife since the Canon Eos 1D Mark IV was 800 ISO with no modern noise reduction software like Topaz or On1 NoNoise.
My issue is with shooting at 7.1. Now you as a seasoned pro, might enjoy that aperture but I myself do not.
Oh, and I have been shooting birds for around 15 years now if that qualifies me to the club.
And I did own a 100-400 that lens was always on the long end, so dumped that for a EF 300 2.8 and a 500 f/4 which I sold when the 600 f4 II came out.
Also I probably shoot a bit earlier in the morning and later in the evening than you.
Cheers
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