EF 24-70mm lens help

I have a Canon 20d and I have been shooting with it for about a year now. I used a EF 75-300 lens for my sports shots but I was not getting a very good quality for my indoor sports such as basketball. So I asked some people about the 24-70 and they raved about how it will work great for indoors becouse of the way it lets the light in ect.... Well the problem is I used it one time for basketball and got really good shots, but the last two times I have used it not even for just basketball but for a school function "grandparents day" at my kids school, my pictures are blurry and it really makes me sick. I don't know what I am doing that is so different now or if I have just got myself it a distressed mood so I just can't figure it out, or if it is the lens.
People expect these pictures to be taken of their kids so they can buy them and the I am not getting anything to offer them and I am wasting my time. If you have any thoughts on what I can do or what I should be doing I would really appreciate it.
thanks

Amy-
My guess is it's a technique problem. Can you tell us more, please? What mode were you shooting in, what was the light like, etc. And it would really help if we could see some samples of the problem images. If you can give us some moe information, I'm sure we can help.

Hi, Amy
Can you post some of these "blurry" pictures here so we can evaluate them? I have the same lens and originally I too wasn't very impressed (or should I say, not as impressed as I thought I should have been). In fact, I almost returned it until I figured out how to properly use it to its potential. To do so, I spent a lot of time under different situations testing and retesting it. We'd love to help. Show us what you got.

I dumped the pictures as soon as I saw them. But.... I took more pictures today I just have not had the time to look at them so when I download them if it still looks the same I will show them to you.

As far as the light goes, it was in a high school gym and I'm sure everyone knows what kind of funky light that it.

I don't remember if I had said I was using a monopod.

But I did take my camara to best buy to see a guy up there that is way to smart with camaras to limit himself, anyway he was gone for the night and so I took a chance at showing it to someone else and guess what It focused!!!!!

But if you have any suggestions of things I should be doing to figure out if this is becouse I just have not figured out the lens ect....

Thanks for taking the time to help I appreciate it more then you all know!!!!!

I have a 28-70 2.8L, and unless yours is somehow defective, then the problem is with technique or perhaps too low of a shutter speed or a focusing error due to focus point selection. A few questions....

1) What was your ISO?

2) What was your shutter speed?

3) What focus point were you using, or did you let the camera choose one?

Sharp photos in standard gym lighting should be no problem for a 2.8 L zoom (though the colors will be off). Here is one I shot (Photostitched three photos) with my 28-70 2.8 at ISO 800 in pretty low light.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stephen Lutz

I have a 28-70 2.8L, and unless yours is somehow defective, then the problem is with technique or perhaps too low of a shutter speed or a focusing error due to focus point selection. A few questions....

1) What was your ISO?

2) What was your shutter speed?

3) What focus point were you using, or did you let the camera choose one?

Sharp photos in standard gym lighting should be no problem for a 2.8 L zoom (though the colors will be off). Here is one I shot (Photostitched three photos) with my 28-70 2.8 at ISO 800 in pretty low light.

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I actually ended up letting the camara choose everything at one point on auto becouse I was getting upset. It probably is my fault but I just can't figure it out. I looked at more pictures today that I took on Sat. and I really did not like them. I have read the book and tried to do what it says, I have tried messing with the iso and the shutter speed.

I feel like everytime I get a new piece of equipment for my camara I am learning how to use it all over again. If you have any suggestions on exactly what I should be doing I will be taking pictures again Tues. night for three basketball games. And I really need these pictures to be great.
thanks for your help.