Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/04/12

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Comparing film and digital resolution
From: george.imagist at icloud.com (George Lottermoser)
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2014 12:35:41 -0500
References: <osxM1n00u0AFV7C01sxN9J@mac.com> <6BB0304864D946309D842C5A630088C2@billHP> <B37619EC-36D0-4CEC-BC34-BB902DADCAF0@bex.net>

On Apr 12, 2014, at 12:04 PM, Howard Ritter wrote:

> Point taken?the final common pathway in both arms of the comparison is 
> digital, and the cleanest possible comparison would be of a photographic 
> enlargement from a negative vs. an inkjet print from a digital file. But I 
> don't think any particular skill would be required, since we're not 
> looking at any of the print attributes that take skill to select and bring 
> out?just looking at how fine detail is rendered at large scale.
> 
> And the resolution of the Nikon Coolscan 5000 is surely sufficient to make 
> the point with the negative material I was using, as the pixel size in the 
> scanner output (even in the original, before the upsampling that was 
> needed to make the tiny ~300 x 200 pixel crops big enough to see on the 
> Gallery) was much smaller than the resolution of the negatives?just look 
> at the vertical elements in the deck railing. As well, I looked at the 
> negatives with a magnifier, and it's just as the scans show: there's no 
> more than a suggestion of the uprights. There's no difference between the 
> direct visualization of the detail and the scan rendering of the detail. 
> Digital sensors of, say, 15 Mpx and up just blow away ordinary film.

It may be that the best comparison would be:
projecting a transparency to the equivalent size
as
the 100% screen image
and view from the same distance.

both using light
not mixing inkjet nozzles with silver halide chemistry.

The greatest way to look at "film" [positive or negative]
is with a very fine 8x, 10x, or 12x  loupe 

Regards,
George Lottermoser 
george at imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com/blog
http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist



In reply to: Message from billcpearce at cox.net (Bill Pearce) ([Leica] Comparing film and digital resolution)
Message from hlritter at bex.net (Howard Ritter) ([Leica] Comparing film and digital resolution)