Note: This article was originally written in 2004 when the Fuji S1 Pro was relatively new. Sensor technology has moved on considerably and todays sensors produce far superior image quality. Therefore, the 35mm digital images below only have historical value now.

The following images are provided to demonstrate the difference in image sharpness between the Fuji S1 Pro digital camera and Fuji 35mm ISO100 colour negative film. Both cameras were firmly mounted on a heavy tripod (Manfrotto Triaut) and fired 'hands-off' to remove camera shake. There was no wind blowing at the time of the exposures. The exposures in each case were based on spot meter readings of the subject and the zone system.

The S1 Pro, fitted with a 35-70mm Nikon zoom, was on it's maximum quality setting producing a 17-18 Mb file. To keep the test as fair as possible, I used a Canon zoom lens on my Canon A1 for the film exposure (zoom lenses are not as sharp as prime lenses). Both lenses were set to obtain the same subject area in the viewfinder.

The 35mm colour negative was scanned on a Minolta Dimage Scan Speed (max. resolution 2800 ppi) to obtain a file size of 17-18 Mb at 300 dpi. This produced a file with the same size properties as the S1 Pro image file.

The 120 and 5x4 images were scanned on an Epson 1640U from transparencies to obtain 18 Mb files. The sections are from the original 300 dpi files, the full images have been resampled down to 72 dpi for this page.

The images have not been sharpened in any way and no other manipulation has taken place, they are as fresh as a new born baby!

The film scanners are nowhere near the latest performance levels so bear this in mind.

35mm Fuji Colour negative Film	Fuji S1 Pro Digital Camera
Section of scan from 35mm Film	Section of image from S1 Pro
Image scanned from 120 transparency film	Section of 120 scan at 300 dpi
Image scanned from 5x4 transparency film	Section of 5x4 scan at 300 dpi

Draw your own conclusions from these images as to whether 35mm digital can replace film scans for professional work.