Are wide lenses sharper than telephoto ones?

I agree with above. If you look at Canon MTF tables the teles are by far the sharpest lenses Canon makes.

Speaking of MTF graphs...I am constantly baffled when I read reviews that say the 100-400mm is soft at the 400mm end. Looking at the MTF graphs, the lens is indeed supposed to be stunning at the tele end, and it should be soft at the 100mm end.

This has perplexed me too. I think mine is sharp at the tele end...

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Thanks very much for the info, I never knew the tele's were supposed to be so sharp. Fword you are right, I was the one with the soft cat pictures.
I now feel confident that something is wrong with my 70-200. I am going to take it in for calibration, hopefully Canon Aust. will take me seriously.

Hope so too...there have been happy stories of users returning an unsharp lens and getting it back in full working order, so the same might be with your case. If only you could just exchange it. It'll be so much quicker. I'm sure most of us just itch to have a play with a new lens.

Yeah I wish I could exchange it, but I have had it for 5 months so its too late for that. I am relatively new at this and always thought it was me, not the lens. At least there is hope that they can fix it!

Well, that's good attitude and very good patience! I'm not so good myself.