DSLR vs. FILM SCAN COMPARISON
IMAGES OCEANSIDE HARBOR, SAN DIEGO COUNTY |
| This page contains a two image comparison between the Canon 10D
and a Provia F ISO100 film scan. The 10D image was shot in camera RAW and converted with
Adobe's Camera RAW plugin. Defaults were used for conversion except no
sharpening was applied. The 10D image was then sized up to 3400X2267 pixels in Photoshop using bicubic interpolation.
This was done to get the image components about the same size in each image. No image adjustments were
applied. The Provia F ISO 100 image was scanned at 4000 dpi with my Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED
without ICE or GEM. Some minor color and tonal range
adjustments were applied to the original scan. No sharpening was done to the
scan. The
white cutout represents the full resolution screen capture from both images.
A reminder that shot as camera RAW, the DSLR image has had no sharpening in
any stage of image creation. I've included these two comparison images specifically to show how well the 6mp Canon 10D image resolves detail when compared to a 4000 dpi scan of Provia F ISO 100 at nearly 19mp. This comparison is set on a particularly level playing field since the same lens and focal length were used and no post processing was applied to the scanned image. I'm aware that Nikon Scan's ICE and GEM slightly reduce sharpness in the final image. The softening of image detail caused by using ICE at 'normal' and GEM at '2' is very minor. My reason for applying ICE and GEM to the other images in this comparison article is that I use ICE and GEM in my regular scan to image workflow to avoid tedious touchup and reduce visible grain. I do this in an attempt to make 35mm photo enlargement quality more competitive with larger format camera images. These two post processing tools can really make a favorable difference in prints of 12X18 inches and larger. |
| Full image Canon 10D, 24-70 f2.8 L lens @ 24mm and f8 |
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| Canon 10D 24-70 f2.8 L lens @ 24mm and f8 |
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| Provia F ISO 100, 24-70 f2.8 L lens @ 24mm and f8 |
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Oceanside
harbor, 4 images including 10D, 1Ds, 35mm Provia F ISO 100 and 4X5
Velvia film scans
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