Which telephoto lens should I buy for wildlife on my Canon EOS R7?

Question

So I finally pulled the trigger on the R7 after saving up for ages but now I'm legit losing sleep over which lens to actually get for my trip to Yellowstone in three weeks. I've only got about 1500 or maybe 1600 bucks left in my gear fund and that has to cover everything for the whole trip.

I spent hours reading reviews and everyone says the RF 100-500mm is the ultimate choice but honestly its just way out of my price range right now and I cant justify the credit card debt. Then I looked at the RF 100-400mm which is super light and cheap but I'm really worried about that f/8 aperture at the long end especially since I want to catch bears or wolves at dawn when the light is honestly gonna be garbage. I keep seeing people recommend the older EF 100-400mm II with an adapter because its faster glass but then other threads say the autofocus gets all weird and pulses on the R7 sensor and that sounds like a nightmare for fast moving wildlife. I'm just totally stuck and terrified of spending all my savings on the wrong thing and coming home with a bunch of blurry trash.

Do I just settle for the slower native lens or risk the adapter life with older pro glass?

Cynthiaser · Accepted Answer

Adding my two cents because I was in your exact shoes last spring! I went with the Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM and honestly it has been amazing. I saved so much cash that I actually snagged a Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM too for those really distant wolves. Having two native lenses for way less than one pro lens was a total game changer for my budget!

finasteride dose for androgene · Answer

Just saw this. Look, I have been shooting wildlife for twenty years and the R7 is a fantastic but moody little camera. I tried the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM with the Canon Mount Adapter EF-EOS R on my R7 last summer in Glacier. The pulsing you are worried about? It is definitely a thing. It usually happens in high-speed burst mode and it basically ruins the sharpness on 3 out of every 5 frames when the subject is moving toward you. I lost some prime shots of a bull moose because the focus kept jittering back and forth just enough to soften the eye. In my experience, you are way better off going native. I know f/8 on the Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM looks bad on paper for wolves at dawn, but I have pushed my ISO to 6400 or even 12800 and just used DxO PureRAW 4 to clean it up. It is honestly cheaper and more reliable than fighting with an old lens adapter combo that wont talk to your sensor properly. If you want to see what I mean about the pulsing, check out the R7 threads on the Photography on the Net forums or DPReview. It is a known hardware communication lag. A sharp f/8 shot is always better than a blurry f/5.6 shot because your AF was hunting. TL;DR: Stick with the native Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM. Use the money you save to buy DxO PureRAW 4 for noise and a better pair of boots for the trip.

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Which telephoto lens should I buy for wildlife on my Canon EOS R7?