Changing my gear lineup, need some input

I'm currently shooting with a 1DX and 7D2, my go to lens for birds and wildlife is the 600 IS II (with Mark III extenders when needed) and I also currently have a 300mm 2.8 IS and 100-400 II in my stable as well. The vast majority of my shooting is done on the 1DX. Frankly I haven't been all that happy with the 7D2, it's a great camera but it's the first crop sensor that I have owned in quite a while and the IQ just feels lacking to me compared to what I've grown accustomed to shooting FF. That said it does well enough in good light and is nice to have when I absolutely need the pixel density, and I did like having it mounted on the 100-400 during soccer season. Anyway, the 100-400 is the most recent acquisition and I bought it with the idea that I would try it out and then decide whether I wanted to keep it or the 300 2.8. I'm leaning toward keeping the zoom and selling the 300, mostly because of the increased flexibility and ease of carrying when I am hauling it around as a secondary lens with the 600. I love the 300 and I'm struggling with letting it go but being honest I think in most situations I would reach for the zoom first and the 300 would be left sitting.

My original thought was to sell the 300 and the 7D2 and pick up a 5DIV. The 5D is appealing to me for the 30MP sensor. I've never felt like I get the full benefit of the 1.6 crop from the 7D2 because of the image quality compared to the 1DX, so I feel like going to 30MP on a full frame sensor would get me back in the ball park as far as effective reach plus giving all the other benefits of the new sensor when subjects are closer filling the frame. I wish it was 8fps instead of 7, but I got by just fine with 5fps from a 1DsIII for quite a while so I'm sure I would manage and I would obviously still have the 1DX when I need the frame rate.

It recently occurred to me though that another option would be to sell the 300 and the 1DX and grab a 1DXII. This would leave me with the 7D2 as my 2nd body, but... 1DXII. I wish the 1DXII had come in at 24MP, I wouldn't even have to ask then. I'd like to hear some thoughts from people who have hands on experience with both the 1DXII and 5DIV. I guess it's a question of whether I raise my floor by improving on the "weak link" in my lineup, or raise the ceiling and improve on the body that I do 90% of my shooting with already. I will say that the thought of getting a 1DXII is making the idea of parting with my 300 more palatable, but not having any experience yet with either the 1DXII or 5DIV I'm really just theorycrafting the pros and cons. I'd like to know what everyone else thinks.

I shoot with a 1DX II and a 5D4, please go to my blog to read the reviews and learn about each camera's strengths and weaknesses. I shoot with 600 II and 400 DO II most of the time, this gives me coverage from 400mm to 1200mm.

http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blog/

Personally, I can never live without a 1D camera, in fact if I didn't have one I'd probably give up bird photography and do something else because I am mostly interested in frames with a strong dynamic/action element such as raptors in flight, interactions etc. But you might be interested in other types of images so it really depends on your subject.

Hope this helps

A lot also depends on the conditions you shoot in. In the short time I rented a 1Dx2 I found that the 'reach advantage' of the 7D2 was not quite the 1.6x crop factor (more like about 1.3) and at anything over ISO 800 the pixel noise reduces that advantage further, even when cropping which can eb subject-dependent. I have to say that Arash's reviews are the most comprehensive real-world reviews I have read but this Glen Bartley also has some good reviews of all 3

http://www.glennbartley.com/articles.htm


I shoot mainly with the 7D2 and 100-400Mkii - and it is a remarkable lens for a telephoto zoom and its flexibility (especially for field sports) means I can't think to sell it on even though I have bought the 400DOii. I can understand your thoughts regards the 300 prime and for wildlife it is probably on the short side, but the 300+2x tc will make a compact 600mm for when you don't want to lug the 600 prime around.

I live in NW England which can be cloudy a lot of the year so for me performance at ISO 1600-6400 is a major consideration. In your shoes and for what I shoot, if I needed a second body I would get the 5DIV for its ISO performance over the 7D2, and if my experience with the 1Dx2 is anything to go by the speed and nailed-on accuracy of the AF will raise the performance of the 100-400 significantly.
I don't shoot a lot of extremely fast moving wildlife (unlike Arash and his raptors zipping about) and speaking/corresponding to people, image quality is not the biggest reason to upgrade 1Dx to 1Dx2 so the 5DIV would take priority over the 1Dx2.

One question: if you get the 1Dx2 and keep the 7D2 how much use will it get? It sounds like it may be even less than it is now.

Thanks for the comments guys. Arash, I've read your excellent reviews of both cameras but I went back and read the 1DXII review again today because the last time I read it was when you first posted it. To be clear, under no circumstances am I considering giving up a 1D body as my primary, the pairings I'm considering are 1DXII plus 7D2 or 1DX plus 5D4. Rereading your 1DXII review plus thinking about some of what I stated last night has pushed me in the direction of the 1DXII. I shoot a variety of things but I do have access to both nesting eagles and peregrines within 10 minutes of my house so those are priorities. The improved capability to track against a busy background is of huge interest to me with the 1DXII, well, all the AF improvements are really.

Mike, upgrading the 7D2 would be about IQ, but I'm very happy with the IQ of the 1DX and upgrading that body would be about the rest of the performance, AF in particular. If I stick with the 7D2 and add the 1DXII I think the 7D2 will still see about the same use it does now, which I consider to be fine because it is in a clear role as 2nd body/backup. If I went with the 1DX and 5D4 instead I can see being a lot more conflicted about which one to grab in various situations and lots of times where I would have the 1DX and wish I had the 30MP of the 5D4, or have the 5D4 and wish I had the frame rate of the 1DX. Plus, I can wait for Canon to release a 7D3 and decide then if I want to upgrade my 7D2 to that or maybe consider a 5D4 at that point when they should be a bit cheaper.

BTW- Your observation about the crop "advantage" of the 7D2 is exactly the same conclusion I reached about mine compared to my 1DX, at best it's about 1.3x and once I'm up around 2500-3200 ISO it's almost completely gone.

If you like to shoot peregrine falcons I would buy a 1DX2 right now with no hesitation, you can then upgrade your 7D2 to a 5D4 at a later time.

best