Poor film or screen contact primarily affects which aspect of radiographic quality?

Poor film or screen contact primarily affects recorded detail or spatial resolution because the clarity of the image is heavily dependent on how well the film is in contact with the intensifying screen. When there is insufficient contact, due to issues such as warping or improper placement, the image becomes blurred or fuzzy. This blurriness stems from the fact that the light emitted from the intensifying screen does not uniformly expose the film. As a result, the fine details that should be captured during the radiographic process are lost, leading to a decrease in the spatial resolution. Good contact is essential to ensure that the detail present in the object being imaged is accurately transferred to the film, thereby optimizing the image quality.

While other factors like exposure, density, and contrast are important for overall image quality, they are impacted differently and are not primarily influenced by the film-screen contact. For instance, density relates to the overall darkness of the image, which is affected by exposure settings and processing conditions rather than how closely the film and screen are aligned.