First attempt at wildlife photos with sx730 - bald eagle

Just for fun I played around trying to get some swallow BIF shots with the sx730. If anyone has ever tried shooting swallows in flight you'll understand what a challenge shooting such a small, fast bird is even with the best birding equipment. But this was handheld at 960mm, which sort of equals crazy difficult. I got very few acceptable photos but it was fun trying.

IMO it all comes down to the BIF technique (just like any camera, including DSLR plus top quality birding lens) not necessarily the ability of this camera (in terms of AF performance I mean). I was really surprised though at the frames per second and the buffer capacity. What I learned is that if it can be done for this bird at 960mm (at an obviously very low success rate) then using the same techniques for bigger and slower birds should probably work. I'm anxious to try it out on herons, swans, and ducks (or raptors if I'm lucky enough to find them in flight).

One thing I haven't learned yet is which of these two AF modes is better for BIF (these are set via the "func/set" button on the back of the camera):

1) Continuos ("rapid fire" you could call it)

2) Continuos AF (Rapid fire with continuos AF as I understand it)

I couldn't perceive any difference in FPS but I would have to try it out for real on birds of a reasonable size to see what works better.

Swallow handheld at 960mm (cropped). I realize that for those who haven't shot them you are probably saying "what's the big deal?" and that's o.k.