Shooting in RAW is essential if you want maximum sharpness.
A few weeks ago after a spell where my camera had been left in it's case for about 3 months I took it out and went out to shoot a few pics on a reasonable day (In Britain we've had floods, cold, sleet, storms and lightning in the past few months - while the rest of Europe has been roasting!).
When I loaded the pics onto my computer they were all fractionally unsharp.
I spent about a week trying to figure out what was wrong, even comparing my camera (Canon EOS 350D) to a similar one a friend has.
I was all set to return it to the shop under my insurance when I checked the settings.
I had set it to Jpeg!
And even though the size at Max Jpeg was the same size as RAW the sharpness was definitely inferior!
Now I make sure it's on RAW before I shoot anything.
And naturally the lens counts as well, as well as the speed you shoot at.
With the Canon and my telephoto set to say 200mm, I have to shoot above 1/500 sec to be reasonably sure of a sharp shot, even of a static subject.
And at 300mm I have to shoot nearer 1/2000 to be sure.