Thanks for all the help guys. Decided to take your advice and went with the following:
D800
24-120
70-200 2.8 II
200-400
SB-910
Gonna wait for the time being on the second body. Liking the D7100, but when I hear crop sensor with 24mp, I drift back to the 7d, which I always hated. Liking the fact it can go 1.2x though.
Looks like a real nice kit. D7100 technical data is pretty impressive. Good idea to wait and add over time. You will be very surprised at how clean the images are from the D800. 100% crops will amaze. Enjoy the gear and post some pics.
haven't read through all the comments but I made the switch 4 months ago and have no regret for the type of photography that I do - nature/wildlife.
Regarding Canon recent price hike - well I have noticed this from both camps and not just Canon. Look at the price of nikon 800mm! $18,000 vs. $13500 and vice versa with the 200-400. It just happened that the 500/600 vr have been around longer than the newer canons. Remember when nikon first released their 500/600 VR? The prices were about $1500 higher than the canon's equivalent at the time. If I remember correctly, the 600 VR was priced over $10k when it was first released.
If I was also into landscape, I would have both systems. Nikon for wide angle and Canon for telephoto. Either Nikon/Canon will work for the in-between.
I made the switch primarily for
1. the superior IQ from canon when shoot with their latest TCs (either 1.4 or 2x). For those little birds, reach is never enough. I have never been quite happy with Nikon's equivalent, especially their 2x, yes, even with the version III copy.
2. Portability - I went with the 600 IS II and can handhold the setup again! slap on the 2xtc and I get 1200mm that's handholdable. Posted some samples taken with this combo over at N/W forum here
