'Soft' canon 28-300l? any ideas?

I had a lens like that, was giving me grey images instead of contrasty images. turns out it was a cheap filter... if it has a filter, try taking it off and trying again.

jmcphoto wrote in post #5787973
Here's the result from the test. Its not so much the focus is out its just not very sharp overall!

I guess i just thought that when you buy an L you get a sharp lens, could just be this one but i dont think ill be keeping it for long.

Sad to say my old sigma 18 200 is much sharper for a fifth of the price.

I've not used this lens but judging by your 3 images I have to say they are all underexposed and my array of lenses fall short on sharpness with underexposed shots. Unless you printed a test grid on grey paper I'd say you should have shot that 1-2 stops faster. I'm sure it would make difference as the test image lacks contrast.