David, if I am reading your article correctly, downsampling DOES result in image degradation.
Dale:
Yes, that's what I thought I was saying too. ;-) "Downsampling does result in image degradation." (does that help?)
What the article tries to get across is that it is possible to compensate, somewhat, for the excessive smoothing with the use of the stairstep sharpen/downsample technique.
Even if retouching were not an issue, I think most people would assume that "scan high and downsample" is the way to go, especially when shooting digital originals.
I totally agree. But the original poster was thinking there was "no" degradation. While the most "optimal" reproduction might come from scanning the film at different resolutions and using the file just slightly larger than you need, this doesn't work well in most production workflows. In this sense downsampling is a necessary evil, the devil is in the details of HOW you handle the downsampling.
David
--
David Riecks (that's "i" before "e", but the "e" is silent)
http://www.riecks.com & http://www.asmp.org/commerce/digitalps.php
Chairman, ASMP Digital Photography Standards & Practices committee
=============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
