I've done A-list visual effects work since the 90s, and I can say that film for motion picture production[1] varies widely in it's grain density and size. This

I've done A-list visual effects work since the 90s, and I can say that film for motion picture production[1] varies widely in it's grain density and size. This variation is amplified by the fact that DPs often "push" or "pull" the stock which means they treat it as if it was a different ISO speed than labeled (exposure and lab processing change to compensate). In practical application digital elements nearly always have to be reduced in effective resolution to match film plates when composited. Of course under laboratory conditions using larger negative size (like 65mm), Velvia or some other extraordinary film stock you can of course produce extremely high resolution individual frames, but as we know from a lifetime of movies this is neither practical nor necessary. Though a great source of religious wars. However, there is a reason why film's "lower resolution" still produces superior resolving power... Every single frame of film has a different randomized set of sample points. This in combination with human persistence of vision[2] and our ability to see pattern but discard noise means that a static shot on film is significantly more resolved in our minds after only a few frames than the equivalent shot recorded by color filter array[3]. It's not just perceptual, temporal sampling truly produces a more accurate representation of the image content over time. This is a fascinating quality of film that can give you the sense of graininess and low quality while still producing superior image detail in your mind, but as soon as you stop the projector and evaluate the film image by image the effect is lost. You might be left wondering where did all that detail go? [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motion_picture_film_stocks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motion_picture_film_st... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_filter_array https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_filter_array