Image Structure

Disclaimer: This page contains information which may or may not be strictly accurate.

The structure of a digital image differs from that of a film image. A film image is crystalline, made up from random sized and shaped particles. A digital image is made from regular resized and shaped components.

A digital image scanned from a film original will have an overlay of both of these patterns.

Scanning at high resolution will give a digital pattern smaller than the grain, allowing the grain to show as film grain.
Scanning at low resolution will increase the risk of the two structures conflicting.

A scanned image from negative should generally not be enlarged or re interpolated, scanning should be at the highest quality required.

Digital originals because of their regular structure (containing only one pattern ) can be re interpolated to about twice their original size without signs of loss of quality.