Comparing 35mm Film Resolution with Digital

Film resolution just might be higher quality than what the latest digital camera can provide.

Digital cameras have impressive megapixel resolution, but how does that stack up against the time-tested chemistry of a film camera?

I’m going to walk you through the basics of the film vs digital resolution debate. I’ll be covering everything from the basics of 35mm resolution to the ins and outs of which format is better for your photography!

I used to be the type of photographer that chased the highest megapixel count possible, but these days I’m shooting a mix of film photography and digital photography.

Each format has its place, but I would be lying if I said that film doesn’t edge out digital by a solid margin. Here’s how it all breaks down.

What Resolution Is 35mm Film?

I want you to walk away with the quickest possible answer: 35mm film has about the same resolution as a 5.6k digital image.

That’s the quick and dirty answer. Under ideal conditions, film has immense resolving power and outperforms digital in raw numbers.

However, there are a lot of variables that can change the “ideal” numbers.

I’m going to break this down into all of its fine-grain detail – and yes that includes a quick overview of a bunch of films and optic science later in the article!

Is Film Higher Resolution Than Digital?

Image Credit: ONUR KURT

First, let’s get our terms straight.

Technically, “resolution” only refers to the pixel-by-pixel size of an image. You could make an image of any resolution just by resizing it, regardless of quality.

Resolving power is where the real quality is made and lost for film. You can think of resolving power as film’s equivalent of the megapixel count in your digital camera. Resolving power is measured in lines per millimeter or l/mm.

Film tends to have higher resolution than digital when you compare 35mm film with a full-size digital sensor. Film greatly outperforms digital when we move to larger film sizes like 120 and large format.

Most digital cameras shoot between 10 and 24 megapixels, while 35mm film has a megapixel equivalent that can go well beyond these limits.

Film is also much more skill-intensive than shooting with a digital camera. Improper storage, shooting, or developing can all dramatically lower the image quality of a film photograph, whereas a digital image works just fine as long as your camera is mechanically sound.

What Is the Pixel Quality of Film?

Image Credit: Chay García

Pixel Quality, or the PPI of an image, lets you know how many pixels are packed into a square inch of that image. PPI is best understood as a ratio, with a higher PPI being necessary for larger images.

So, how does PPI work for film? Let’s look at this by first looking at film’s best friend: print media.

Film images are typically printed, which uses a different system of measurements. DPI, or Dots Per Inch, is used for print media while PPI, Pixels Per Inch, is used for screen media.

The good news is that DPI and PPI are roughly identical, with 300 DPI being the same as 300 PPI; the only difference is whether your images end up in a physical magazine or a digital one.

Film quality can be as high as your scanner can take. You can scan 35mm film at 6,000 DPI and get great results or scan around 300 DPI for small prints or digital images.

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Specialty film like Adox CMS II is advertised as being “grain free” and, despite being 35mm film, has a staggering digital equivalent of 500 megapixels per image.

Is Film Unlimited Resolution?

Nothing has unlimited resolution. Even a 500-megapixel image could be enlarged to the point of distortion.

With that said, certain film stocks have functionally unlimited resolution. A large format photo with the digital equivalent of potentially beyond 1,000 megapixels has a resolution that even professional scanners will struggle to truly convert to digital.

What Resolution Do Filmmakers Use?

Let’s talk movies!

Filmmakers may be shooting in 4k or on 35mm film with slightly higher than 4k resolution, but the projector at your local theater has its limits.

Cinematic film is typically edited to 2k to be in line with what theater projectors can handle, but IMAX can handle up to 18k images!

Filmmakers also regularly go below the 2k limit for effect or when shooting on 8mm, 16mm, or VHS.

What is the Resolution of Scanned Film?

The resolution of scanned film is only limited by the scanner you are using.

A professional drum scanner can get a film-like digital image out of your shots, while a discount flatbed document scanner will struggle to pull a quality image out of even the most technically perfect film photography.

What Is the Best Resolution for Scanning Film?

The best scan quality depends on what you want to do with your film scans.

In general, I am for around 300 DPI to 1,200 DPI for scans that will wind up in digital-only environments and I turn the dial up to 11 for 6,000 DPI scans in TIFF format for anything that is headed to the printers.

Keep in mind that you might need smaller DPI numbers to reduce file size or make the scanning job go faster.

You can also scan with your smartphone in a pinch – this works great if you’re just posting to your website or social media!

35mm Film Resolution vs Digital

Image Credit: CHUTTERSNAP

Whether you’re a diehard film photographer or you’ve shot digital cameras your whole life, I know why we’re all here. It’s time to figure out which format is better in this no-holds-barred film vs digital brawl!

We’ve already talked about how film has technically higher resolution, but getting that full resolution out of film can be much harder than digital. However, which format is just better?

Does 35mm Film Look Better Than Digital?

This might get contentious, but why do so many photographers, even digital-only photographers, love the film look?

Film is beautiful and has an aesthetic people chase even when editing digital images to look like film. It’s genre-defining, but why?

Film uses a series of chemical reactions to capture an image. This capture works when silver halide crystals undergo a photochemical reaction and change in the presence of visible light.

Digital camera sensors need to use a thing called Bayer Interpolation to capture light. This means that pixels are divided up into red, green, and blue specializations which send electric signals to a processor that then interprets and stores an image.

Our eyes process light much closer to how the silver halide reaction of film works than the interpolation of digital sensors.

Film buffs feel this similarity to how our eyes see adds a certain magic to film photography that digital, with the possible exception of maybe Foveon or some CCD sensors, can’t seem to get close to.

Digital, on the other hand, has taken over the photographic world. We film photographers are holdovers and, to be honest, most of us shoot more digital than film – if for no other reason than cost.

This all comes down to a philosophy of aesthetics. Film has a tactility and aura that digital just can’t reproduce. We even talk about digital photography as having a “film-like quality” when things are really working.

Something I reflect on is that a great digital photograph will wind up printed as physical media in a magazine or a book while even the most flawed film family photo with a thumb partly covering the frame will be a document carrying history and memories for generations.

At the end of the day, one isn’t objectively “better” than the other in some vague sense, but film still defines the medium even though digital has become much more popular.

Other Popular Film Size Resolutions

Want to know how your favorite format stacks up to digital cameras?

Keep in mind that these calculations are estimates. Film doesn’t, can’t, directly translate to digital so there’s always room for debate with these numbers. Treat them less like rules, and more like guidelines.

Here’s a breakdown of the ideal film photography expressed in terms even the most hardcore pixel peeper can appreciate:

Film Resolution FAQs

What is the best film resolution?

The current best film resolution is Adox CMS 20 II 35mm film, which has a digital equivalent of 500 megapixels. This film renders about 93% more fine detail than the best digital cameras are capable of, if it is shot, developed, and scanned properly.

Is 35mm film higher resolution than 4K?

35mm film is typically scanned at around 2k resolution, but you can scan 4k out of 35mm film depending on your film quality and scanner settings. Film does not have a direct translation to pixel resolution as film is measured in line per millimeter rather than pixel count, which means there is a lot of variability with these scans.

What resolution is 35mm film in pixels?

The quickest answer is 35mm film has roughly 5.6k pixel resolution with roughly 5,600 3,620 pixels. This number can easily go up or down depending on the resolving power of your digital scanner.

What is the resolution of cinema in pixels?

Movies are typically shot and played at either 2K which is 2048×1080 pixels or 2.2 megapixels, or 4K which is 4096×2160 pixels or 8.8 megapixels. Movies can be filmed at higher pixel counts depending on the need of the project.

What is the highest resolution for 8mm film?

8mm film has between 1,000 to 1,200 lines of horizontal resolution. A 2k scan typically works at 1,556 lines horizontally. This means that 8mm film has just below a 2k maximum resolution.

What is the best 4K resolution for film?

There are different standards of 4k resolution depending on whether the final video will be played on TV, streaming, or in theaters. Theatrical films have a standard 4k resolution of 4096 × 2160 (DCI 4K).

What resolution should I scan 120 film?

120 film, or medium format, can be scanned upwards of 9,000 DPI for the best possible results. You can also scan your 120 negatives at a lower resolution if you want smaller files and faster scans, and you don’t need the maximum detail possible, like with social media posts.

Is it better to scan photos at 600 or 1200 dpi?

Film photography scans at 600 or 1,200 DPI produce average to high quality images perfect for sharing digitally or creating average-size prints. You can scan as high of a DPI resolution as you’d like, but that doesn’t always yield the best results.

What is the highest resolution film scan?

The highest resolution film scan is only limited by what your scanner is capable of. Your average 35mm film negative can technically contain upwards of 87 megapixels of information while specialty film like Adox CMS II has upwards of 500 megapixels. A scan of around 3,000 DPI should yield results good enough for a print size over 1 meter long.

Resolution of Film: Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, digital photography still hasn’t caught up with film in terms of raw resolution. Even average 35mm film stocks can outperform the most powerful 35mm equivalent digital cameras.

With that said, it’s harder to get the most out of your film, while digital photography tends to just work with the press of a button. Most of our photography winds up in a digital format, which also adds another layer of advantage to shooting digital in the first place.

I hope this article has resolved some of your questions about the image quality of film photography vs digital. Let me know if you have any questions down in the comments and I’ll answer those in a future article!