> That emotion is nostalgia, whether real or perceived.

Absolutely. One of my prized possessions is a book I had made from digital pictures I took on a family trip when my kids were 3 & 4 years old. The pictures are of single-digit megapixel quality, but are perfect for what they needed to be: a reminder of that trip, and the memories contained within.

It seems to me that the slightly fuzzy aspect of old pictures better matches our fuzzy memories of that time.