The trouble here is that an image, regardless of source, has to have jumped through a few hoops between the camera and the screen of the laptop I've now viewing it on. Post-processing, neat or sloppy, is going to have some effect. I've known a few photographers whose digital work stood out like the proverbial sore thumb largely from post-processing technique (or apparent lack thereof); one of them had wondered how I could pick out the digital shots in a heartbeat. Initially, I pegged it to the camera's sensor (original Canon 1D), but it turns out I was only half right...his post-shoot PS technique left a bit to be desired (as did mine with my own 1D shots...can't be complacent with those things).
And I remember shooting a few rolls of a certain batch of Provia 400 a few years back, and scanning them on my Minolta 5400, the result being images that were quite slick looking...in fact, a little too slick, and it wasn't the apparent lack of grain that was the issue (airial view of Times Square). There was an almost-digital "sheen" to the images I'd never seen in my other scans, slide or neg, fine-grain or not. Admittedly, Provia 400 isn't one of my go-to films, but the few subsequent rolls I've shot didn;t have that "look". Weird, but there you are.
- Barrett
