36 C.F.R. § 1236.50
(d) Requirements for digitizing modern textual paper records. For these records, produce image files at a minimum of 300 ppi sized to the source document.
(4) At a minimum, the agency must digitize the paper records covered by this paragraph to the following parameters:
| Digital file specifications | Attributes |
| Color mode | color or grayscale. |
| Bit depth | 8 or 16. |
| Color space | gray gamma 2.2, AdobeRGB1998, sRGB, ProPhoto RGB, ECIRGBv2. |
| Resolution (Sampling Frequency) (Units are Pixels Per Inch/ppi minus Reproduction Scale Accuracy) | ≥294 ppi (300 ppi—2%). |
| Measurement parameters | Performance metric values Difference from aim (applies to 20 ≤ L* ≤ 100). |
| Tone Response (OECF) L* (Units Colorimetric ΔL*) gray patches that meet the measurement parameters | ± 5. |
| White Balance (Units Colorimetric ΔE(a*b*)) gray patches that meet the measurement parameters | ≤4%. |
| Lightness Uniformity (Units Colorimetric—Standard Deviation Divided by Mean L*) | ≤3%. |
| Average Color Accuracy (Units Colorimetric—Mean ΔE 2000—for patches meeting the measurement parameters) | ≤ 3.5. |
| Color Accuracy 90th Percentile (Units Colorimetric—2.5 times average deviation for patches meeting the measurement parameters) | ≤ 8.75. |
| Color Channel Misregistration (Units Pixels) | < 0.5 pixel. |
| SFR 10 (Sampling Efficiency) (Measurement is a Ratio %) | >80%. |
| MTF50 (50% SFR) (Percentage of Half Sampling Frequency) [Lower, Upper] | Percentage of half sampling frequency: [>40%, <75%]. |
| Reproduction Scale Accuracy (Units % Difference from Header PPI) | <±2%. |
| Sharpening (Units Max Modulation) | < 1.1. |
| Noise (Upper Limit) (Units Std Dev of L*) | ≤ 2. |
| Noise (Warning Limit) (Units Std Dev of L*) | ≥.25. |
(e) Requirements for digitizing photographic prints and paper records that have fine details. Records that have fine detail, require a high degree of color accuracy, or have other unique characteristics, must be captured using the specifications in table 2 to this paragraph (e) for photographic prints and paper records with fine details. For these records, produce image files (as described table 2) at a minimum of 400 ppi sized to the source document (these performance values equate to FADGI three-star category “Prints and Photographs”). It may be necessary to apply a higher resolution than the minimum for some records that have fine detail.
(1) These specifications apply to records such as photographic prints, graphic-arts prints (for example, lithographs or intaglio), drawings, embossed seals, and records that have information that cannot be captured by the parameters in table 1 to paragraph (d) of this section for modern textual paper records.
(4) At a minimum, agencies must digitize all records covered by this paragraph to the following parameters:
| Digital file specifications | Attributes |
| Color mode | color or grayscale. |
| Bit depth | 8 or 16. |
| Color space | Gray gamma 2.2, AdobeRGB1998, ProPhoto RGB, ECIRGBv2. |
| Resolution (Sampling Frequency) (Units are Pixels Per Inch/ppi minus Reproduction Scale Accuracy) | ≥392 ppi (400 ppi—2%). |
| Measurement parameters | Performance metric values |
| Tone Response (OECF) L* (Units Colorimetric ΔL2000*) for any given gray patch | ± 4. |
| White Balance (Units Colorimetric ΔE(a*b*)) for any given gray patch | ≤4. |
| Lightness Uniformity (Units Colorimetric − Standard Deviation Divided by Mean) | <3%. |
| Average Color Accuracy(Units Colorimetric—Mean ΔE 2000—average deviation of all patches) | <3.5. |
| Color Accuracy 90th Percentile (Units Colorimetric—2.5 times average deviation of all patches) | <8.75. |
| Color Channel Misregistration (Units Pixels) | <0.5 pixel. |
| SFR10 (Sampling Efficiency) (Measurement is a Ratio %) | 80%. |
| SFR50 (50% SFR) (Units Percentage of Half Sampling Frequency) [Lower, Upper] | Percentage of half sampling frequency: [>40%, <75%]. |
| Reproduction Scale Accuracy (Units % Difference from Header PPI) | <± 2%. |
| Sharpening (Units Max Modulation) | <1.1. |
| Noise (Upper Limit) (Units Std Dev of L*) | <2. |
| Noise (Lower Limit) (Units Std Dev of L*)—A warning should be raised if the image doesn't meet this criteria | ≥.25. |