Certainly, it could not have been "as sharp as the original." In order to enlarge a photo and keep it as sharp as the smaller original, the software would have had to invent information that didn't exist in order to maintain sharpness as the photo got bigger. In general, that's impossible.

That said, you can find specialized programs designed to approximate visual information using sophisticated algorithms to make high-quality enlargements. These programs can't create perfectly sharp enlargements that are as good as the original, but they definitely can make something better than a straight pixel enlargement. Check out the free , for example, which I wrote about in "." Using a utility such as SmillaEnlarger, you can conceivably take a high-quality scan of a Polaroid and turn it into an oversize print. In fact, JL, you might have used a '90s-era equivalent of this program to produce the results you describe.

Recently, you answered a . Can you please expand your answer? Specifically, I am interested in knowing what kind of resolution I should choose when scanning slides and negatives, especially as it relates to the optimum balance between file size and resolution. For example, there's no benefit to scanning at excessive resolution, but there is a distinct time penalty. I'm always torn between the two, not sure which is better. I notice that some of my old color slides are deteriorating, and need to be scanned and archived soon.--Stan Hutchings, Concord, North Carolina

This question deserves an entire Digital Focus of its own, Stan, and I promise to do that soon. In the meantime, I can give you some general guidelines that should steer you in the right direction.