I have to agree regarding scanned film. If you are correct about sensors being analogue, certainly there is nothing but digital by the time it gets to us. Seems old school prints have more glow and pop than scanned ones. As for film being binary, I think that the intensity of the light is recorded where as a sensor records photons, like a photomultiplier or gated nuclear counter.(Afterall, negatives have density). Please know, I could be wrong here since I have no clue about the sensors, just my science degree and background. It's like trying to calculate the area under a curve. If you use an integral, you will get it all, but if you use tiny rectangles, say, take the limit as it approaches 0, you get close, but there is always space between the curve and the corners. It's like a record compared to the finest digital recording. The ears or eyes can't hear or see the difference, but the brain senses that something is missing.
BTW, love my M7 and M8 equally.
Joel