About Digital GEM Processing

Digital GEM is a technology developed by Applied Science Fiction that reduces film grain from a scanned image. GEM stands for Grain Equalization & Management. It is able to analyze film's grain pattern and then reduce or remove film graininess without harming the colors, sharpness, and detail content of the image. This technology is based on a complex set of algorithms and works after the scanning process.

Film grain in photographic film is the result of silver halide crystals in the film emulsion surface. All photographic film has grain, and different film speeds have different grain sizes. The faster the film speed the larger and more noticeable the grain. When film is scanned the film grain does appear in the resulting digital image. By using GEM processing this unattractive grain pattern, or graininess, can be reduced and in some cases it is eliminated altogether. This processing option will make an image taken on a film camera look more like one taken on a digital camera.

In order to notice the effect GEM processing has you need to enlarge an image to full size and compare scans side-by-side. Both examples below are down-sampled 1333ppi scans of Kodak 200 speed film. As you can see, GEM processing reduces the film grain in the images without harming the content of the image.

Q1: Will GEM processing work on my film?

Q2: Does GEM processing work on KodaChrome film?

Q3: Why do GEM scans cost more?

Q4: Does GEM processing soften the image?

Q1: Will GEM processing work on my film?
GEM processing works on all color film, traditional silver-halide black & white film, and with black & white (C-41 process) chromogenic film. However, when scanning black & white films we need to scan them as color images in order for GEM processing to work. Using an image editor, they can be converted back to B&W files after GEM processing has been completed.

Q2: Does GEM processing work on KodaChrome film?
Yes.

Q3: Why do GEM scans cost more?
Because GEM processing increases scan time. GEM processing analyzes a film’s grain pattern pixel by pixel and this takes extra time.

Q4: Does GEM processing soften the image?
Yes, but only very slightly. The amount of GEM processing used can be controlled. The lower the GEM setting the less softening occurs. Higher film speeds need a higher GEM setting.