For this comparison, we have taken the film image and reproduced a small section using the actual scanned pixels. The film example is 827 pixels wide and 514 pixels high. The digital image is the same portion of the picture, but the image, originally 441 pixels by 273 pixels was enlarged (using bicubic resampling) to be 882 by 546 pixels. Keep in mind that this image, as displayed on a 17" monitor, would represent a section of an image approximately 35 inches by 45 inches.
Again, if you look only at the section of the sign in the upper left, you might think the digital photo is sharper, due to the higher contrast. However, when you look at the sign on the right side, you can clearly see that the higher resolution of the 35mm scan is making a difference. Of course, you will also see the grain effect of the film also showing up.
In poorer lighting conditions and at the edges of the image, the digital will not stand up as well. With moderately priced digital cameras, there is nothing to correspond to 20 mm lenses or 400 mm lenses. But for day to day photography, the digital seems to give all the quality you could ask for in a camera. I credit the A70's excellent lens for this performance. Although I think 3 MP is a reasonable minimum for serious photography, after that the prime consideration should be quality of the lens and lots of options and controls for the camera operation.