Hey Jim,


f/11 isn't really necessary at 400mm for BIF. Small apertures like that (for the most part, at least) come into play in bird photography when shooting with really long lenses (600mm, 800mm) when DoF is tiny regardless of the small aperture. Shutter speed has to be at least 1/1000, with eagles you can usually get away with 1/800 but for anything faster you'll need a faster shutter.


Unless you're shooting the swallows from a nesting box or a birdfeeder where you know they'll be it's incredibly hard (read: impossible) to get a quality BIF shot. Like nate said, they are tiny and don't fly in a predictable path. I haven't seen a quality BIf shot of that sort of bird. Ever.


At fast shutter speeds IS is useless so if you prefer the focus of the 70-200 + TC and don't mind the EFL reduction I'd pick that combo. Just try not to frustrate yourself attempting to get a good shot of a songbird in flight. There are a select few who can take those shots (Alan Murphy comes to mind, but I don't think even he has a swallow in flight) and it might be (in my opinion) the hardest 'variety' of bird photography.


Good Luck!


brendan