I purchased a 24-105 in similar circumstances to the OP just over a year ago. I too was very unimpressed with the sharpness of the images. I sent it to Canon Australia, they calibrated it and it came back a new lens. 100% better.


It still is soft in the corners on my FF body but that shouldn't be a problem for a crop camera. All in all it's a wonderful pro quality all round lens.


Here's a few examples (unprocessed jpgs) with the 24-105, handheld: