Practical Image Resolution of Film

There have been a lot of images of film scans shared and from them I am trying to determine what the practical resolution (as in how much fine image detail there is) exists at each stage. There is the original camera negative (for the Star Wars movies shot on film, that would be 35 mm for most shots and the Vista Vision cameras for the effects shots), then the Interpositive, the Internegative, and the distribution prints. Plus the 3 color separation master and the Technicolor prints. The bluray master was scanned from the original assembled negative. The 2006 GOUT seems to have been from an original Interpositive. The JSC seems to be from something further down and the TN1 Silver Screen edition is from 35 mm distribution prints. Mike Verta is working from a 4k scan of a Technicolor print.

From what I’ve been able to gather from the images that have been shared, the Technicolor prints seem to have less detail than the bluray and are closer to 720p. The 35 mm scans go down further. After all, they are a copy of a copy of a copy of the original so the grain has been amplified and the details muddled. It is the nature of analog copies. Even so, I come up with a resolution of 540p (half HD), so you get more detail than any DVD.

Now I know that film preserves a lot of other information, such as grain, but things like hair and detail lines are what I am looking at. I’m curious if anyone has done a more accurate examination.

Well, I think it best to ignore the entire projection system an focus on the film. There are too many variables that can reduce detail. Just considering the film itself, I thnk, will give a more certain answer.

I have access to very little, but what I do have is Star Wars EPS 4, 5, 6, and 1. I know Team Negative 1 had access to several prints so I’m not sure it is accurate to refer to their two offerings as single prints. I can see differing resolutions in A New Hope so it may be that they had to use some from a lower quality copy. But generally those are effects shots. The test is pretty consistent between grain and detail between ANH and TESB, and even Harmy’s ROTJ. I have not done an exhaustive comparison, just some basic ones on frames I have from multiple sources. That led to my above conclusions, but I’m hoping others have looked into it more.

While grain is fine in the final product, with each generation grain as well as the optics of the duplication process degrade the fine details. I’ve noticed that grain can hide some of the data loss in the projects on here. If you add grain to the GOUT it looks higher quality. That’s one of the things Harmy did on the Despecialuzed Edition.

Imo, with 35mm you will NOT get much detail beyond 1080p, and with 70mm, you will NOT get much detail beyond 4K. This is AT BEST.

Imagine It Entertainment writes:

… just how much information is actually on film … The following images are a simplification to illustrate some general points. … and will vary based on specific film stocks.

		• • 8mm and Super 8 film has a maximum resolution of 2K horizontal lines. • • A 480 line SD scan will only get about 40% of the details from the film. • • A 1080 line HD scan will get about 75% of the details from the film. • • To truly archive 8mm or Super 8 film it must be scanned at 2K resolution.
		• • Older 16mm print film has around 2K lines. • • Newer 16mm and S16mm can have up to 3K lines of resolution. • • Although an HD scan is good, it only gets about 50% of the details from the film. • • To archive 16mm film a 2k scan is required for older print film and a 4K scan for newer film stocks with smaller film grain.
		• • Older 35mm film has up to 3K lines while newer 35mm film can have in excess of 4K lines. • • An HD scan only gets about 1/4 of the film’s details. • • A 2K scan (2048 ×1556) will get about 50%. • • A 4K (4096 x 3112) scan will get the majority of the film details. Newer film stocks with finer grain will require a 6K scan in order to truly archive it.

Thanks for your detailed reply poita. I’ve gotten an opinion from another source that 35mm is worth somewhere btw 2K - 4K. I’m not totally convinced that 35mm is worth > 4K though. How much of the detail is actually just noise/grain? Or is it a personal decision?