35mm Film Resolution
Here is the upshot: Resolution of film is, in general, 5.6K. And, we scan at 6K. Scanning at any higher resolution does not improve the image any. So, fancier transfer equipment does not yield a better image.
If you print at 300DPI (the printing standard), you can expect a quality print from our high resolution scan. This will be true for images printed up to a size of 18.7" x 12" (for 35mm film.)
Keep in mind that the quality of the image will vastly depend on the original type of film used (fine-grain or regular) and the type of lens that was used (sharp and expensive or a budget-lens.) Additionally, the outcome will depend upon the prowess of the photographer.
MP (Megapixel), DPI (Dot Per Inch), and Printing Size
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DPI |
Megapixels |
Image or Frame
Size in pixels |
Print Size in inches at
300DPI |
VHS (NTSC) |
|
|
0.16MP |
480×333 luma
480×40 chroma |
1.6 × 1.1 |
VHS (PAL) |
|
|
0.19MP |
576×335 luma
240×40 chroma |
1.9 × 1.1 |
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|
|
2MP |
1600 × 1200 |
5.3 × 4.0 |
Full HD |
2K |
|
|
1920 × 1080 |
6.4 × 3.6 |
|
|
|
3MP |
2048 × 1536 |
6.8 × 5.1 |
|
|
|
5MP |
2592 × 1944 |
8.6 × 6.4 |
|
3K |
|
7MP |
3072 × 2304 |
10.2 × 7.6 |
|
|
|
8MP |
3264 × 2448 |
10.8 × 8.1 |
|
|
|
10MP |
3648 × 2736 |
12.1 × 9.1 |
UHD TV |
4K |
|
|
4096 × 2160 |
13.6 × 7.2 |
Apple iPhone X |
4K |
|
12MP |
4032 × 3024 |
13.4 × 10.1 |
|
|
|
14MP |
4288 × 3215 |
14.2 × 10.7 |
|
Resolution of 35mm Film
(1) (2) (3) |
5.6K |
4,000 |
20-21MP (3) |
5600 × 3620 |
18.7 × 12.1 |
|
Our FilmFix slide transfer system (4) |
6K |
4,400 |
24MP |
6048 × 4032 |
20.1 × 13.4 (10) |
Braun 6000 (5) |
7K |
5,000 |
37MP |
7150 × (7150) |
23.8 × (15.4) (10) |
Canon 5DS (6) |
8K |
6,500 |
50MP |
8688 × 5792 |
28 × 19.3 (10) |
10,000dpi Scanner (7) (8) |
7Kn/a |
5,00010,000 (9) |
37MP (9) |
7150 × (7150) |
n/a (10) |
Foot notes and sources
1 35mm film 20MP https://pic.templetons.com/
2 35mm film 21MP https://www.quora.com/
3 20MP "A 35mm scan with an effective resolution of 3900 contains about 20 million pixels, that's enough in order to take out all image information from a 35mm film in terms of resolution." (source)
4 FilmFix visually inspects and manually adjusts each slide for its optimal exposure. The camera we use is a Sony a900 12-bit and has a Dynamic Range of 10.6.
"In theory higher bit depth provides an advantage in terms of image quality, but frankly I don't see it." (source)
5 Braun 6000 (16-bit) if scanning for ME MultiExposure "The tool is called ME in the software and serves as a means to increase dynamic range" up to Dynamic Range 3.8 Dmax
6 Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR Camera (14-bit Canon Origin), Dynamic Range 10.6 Dma
7 Braun 7000 (48-Bit)
8 Pacific Image PowerSlide X Automated 35mm Slide Scanner (48-Bit)
9 "Is advertised as 10,000dpi but is 5,000dpi" (source)
10 It can be argued that printing anything larger than what the film resolution holds will bring a better image, but the only thing it will do is increase the grain size and produce a fuzzier-looking grain.
Author: Nathaniel Courtens
Friday, July 26, 2019