mgstrawn wrote:
I didn't mean to imply that my lens generated noise; poor wording on my part. But, you are probably right - exposure is probably the problem. With getting used to the different placement of settings, I may inadvertently not be paying attention to my exposure as I should. Getting frustrated messes up my ability to think clearly! Thank you.
Don't get frustrated! :-) you've chosen 2 very hard subjects to shoot, grandkids and indoor basketball. I doubt it's a focus problem with the lens. I use Tamron and Sigma lenses on my D7200 all the time with great results.
Think of yourself as having bought a new sports car after driving a friendly family car for several years. You still know how to drive, but suddenly you have new power and handling.
Indoor basketball has many pitfalls, including dark spots, mixed light temps (flourescent, halogen and/or sunlight) and action. as you zoom your Tamron, you lose an fstop. Like any photography, the secret is to get close! Go down to the endline and shoot at 35-70mm or so, wide open f3.5 and 1/250 or higher shutter and let ISO go auto. Spot meter the exposure on a nearby player instead of matrix averaging the whole floor and you will keep the ISO down. You will only get good shots of your team when they are on your end, so change sides at the half.
As for focus points, just because you have 51, don't feel you have to use them all! I get better results using 9 active on AF-C with my Sigma 70-200 at f4. If you want to see what your auto-focus is analyzing (guessing?), activate all 51, turn them on in the viewfinder and pan the action occasionally pressing the shutter halfway. The red squares will jump all over as you move the camera, searching for the closest object for a focus lock.
Same thing caused the issue on your granddaughter photo I think. I would guess you had all 51 active at a lower aperture. You asked the camera to guess where the closest point to focus was, heard the chirp when centered on her eye, she moved ever so slightly and it grabbed her chin and forehead while you were hitting the shutter. Depth of field will be your friend. Try it again on single point focus and f5.6 or f8. You may lose some bokeh, but eyes will stay more in focus. Especially if you BBF another whole discussion). Remember if you are zoomed in on her face and 5-10 ft away from her, all movement is magnified.
Good luck! I have 3 grand kids and discard 2-5 shots for every 1 keeper, so my tips come from experience!