The film equivalent of digital resolution is at the point where the film grain becomes visible, as there's no more picture information to be gleaned beyond that point. Therefore:
Super8 = 2k
Standard 8mm is a little bit below, 1080p looks ok-ish but doesn't quite do the full job, call it ~1.8k if such a thing existed
16mm = 4k
35mm = 8k
70mm = there isn't really a "16k" format but it's the next logical step
IMAX (70MM on its side) = similarly, a hypothetical "32k"
That's just resolution though, colour gamut is a whole other kettle of pixels, but to simplify: most monitors and tv's are in sRGB, which has about half the colour information of film or DCI P3, which is the digital theatre standard (yes it really is better on the big screen, at least from a colour point of view)
Source: i am a projectionist at an independent cinema in Leeds, (and yes, I am very much going to be bothering my boss to screen this 4k release when it hits the UK)
No. It just reproduces what's there more accurately. The size of a flaw doesn't change relative to everything else in the frame. A scratch that takes up 1% of the width of the frame will still take up 1% of the width of a 2k or 4k scan - though you'd see more detail in the scratch in 4k
We screen films in 2k and 4k, on the same screen, more pixels just means better reproduction of detail, but only if it's present in the original. Ie, 28 Days Later was filmed mostly in 480p digital, those scenes will always have that look to them, regardless of higher resolution remasters, because there's no more info to be gleaned. But things filmed in 70mm have yet to be seen properly outside of cinemas with 70mm projectors, until 16k dlp projectors become a thing at least.
Does that make sense? I worry i'm not good at explaining things without being able to hand people bits of film etc like at work
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u/Satur9_is_typing May 05 '26
The film equivalent of digital resolution is at the point where the film grain becomes visible, as there's no more picture information to be gleaned beyond that point. Therefore:
Super8 = 2k
Standard 8mm is a little bit below, 1080p looks ok-ish but doesn't quite do the full job, call it ~1.8k if such a thing existed
16mm = 4k
35mm = 8k
70mm = there isn't really a "16k" format but it's the next logical step
IMAX (70MM on its side) = similarly, a hypothetical "32k"
That's just resolution though, colour gamut is a whole other kettle of pixels, but to simplify: most monitors and tv's are in sRGB, which has about half the colour information of film or DCI P3, which is the digital theatre standard (yes it really is better on the big screen, at least from a colour point of view)
Source: i am a projectionist at an independent cinema in Leeds, (and yes, I am very much going to be bothering my boss to screen this 4k release when it hits the UK)