Camera body upgrade? - Upgrade advice from EOS Rebel T3i

[Vannoyes182]

I have been trying to get good photos of my sons wrestling matches. I have a Canon Rebel t3i and recently purchased a used Tamron SP 70-200mm f2.8mm Di VC USD lens which can know is a dinosaur but it has the f2.8 and my budget was under $500 so this fit the bill. My photos are better but still not as sharp as I’d like. I shoot in manual at f2.8 ISO1600 1/500 shutter speed in Al Servo. The photos are quite grainy but I fix this as much as I can while editing. Do I need to upgrade my camera body? If so, what would you recommend? I’d like to stay around $400 and used or refurbished is fine. Another parent shoots with a Nikon 70-300mm f4.5 and gets as good if not better results. Her camera body is newer so I’m wondering if that’s my problem. Any advice? Thanks!

[Vannoyes182]

Thanks for your input, I do not have a store nearby to try it but I will look at the R100. I’m wondering if the lens is too out of date to be useful. 

[Vannoyes182]

Thank you so much. I will try using aperture priority and change the focus mode. I would much rather have the answer be user error rather than equipment error!

[Vannoyes182]

Thanks for your advice! I am shooting in raw and use Lightroom classic for editing which I am pretty comfortable with. Do you think DPP4 would be worth checking out over Lightroom?

[Vannoyes182]

These are both unedited. 

 ISO 1600 f2.8 1/500s  200mm

ISO 1600. F2.8. 1/500s. 75 mm

[Vannoyes182]

Thanks so much, those images are great! I am usually restricted to the stands but we have a couple home meets this week and will try to get mat side. I have a 50mm prime lens which I have used at meets as well with mediocre results. I had to crop quite a bit in that situation which sounds like may have affected the amount noise.

[jrhoffman75]

Hi. Can you post the actual out of camera files in Dropbox or One Drive. 

That way we can examine all the parameters. 

[wq9nsc]

You are welcome!  Mat side placement will make a huge difference when low light forces the use of a higher ISO setting.

As an example, here are two crops of the same frame shot with a Canon 1DX III which is very well behaved at high ISO and this was captured at ISO 10,000.  The first jpg is from 80% of the sensor area while the second is from just over 8% and at this high ISO it makes the grain coupled with loss of detail very noticeable with a heavy crop. 

The third image is using the same 1DX III body and EF 400 f2.8 glass but at ISO 250 where this crop using only 7% of the sensor area still provides a decently clean and detailed image.  With excellent lighting allowing a low ISO choice, you can crop severely but once the ISO goes up then so does noise and heavy cropping results in a mixture of undesired noise and loss of detail.

Rodger

[ebiggs1]

"Do you think DPP4 would be worth checking out over Lightroom?"

No. You have the best one with Lightroom and Photoshop.

[ebiggs1]

Simple levels adjustment in Photoshop. Very easy one click.

[ebiggs1]

Again I come back to your settings. "I shoot in manual at f2.8 ISO1600 1/500 shutter speed in Al Servo."

IMHO, manual mode is a last case option which should only be used when all else fails. It is never a first choice. Plus Ai-servo almost guarantees you to get blurry photos if not used and understood correctly. Shooting form the bleachers you will never get results like Rodger does. Even if you are ring side you most likely can't get the same results. He has the very best equipment and a lot of inherent talent. Now that said and understood lets get the best we cam from your situation.

Always raw format. Av mode, ISO 1600 or higher if possible. I don't remember if the T3i has Auto ISO but if it does that could be a solution, too. Set a lower and upper limit you are good with. Consult your manual if you do not know how to do or change any of theses settings. Try f4 but be willing to change if need to. And most important use One Shot, never Ai-servo.

It seems a pretty common when folks have a photography problem the answer is a new camera. And folks seem to be happy to spend other people's money too quickly especially when a setting or technique could be the answer. Lets exhaust the latter before we drop the dime. Just because a newer model comes out doesn't mean yours is no longer a capable camera. 

Besides the in camera setting perhaps a few tips on using LR and PS is in order.