AVIATIONTOOLBOX: recent FAA sectional scans

When I got my first DVD of sectional images from the FAA I was
thrilled by the quality of the scans. I did, however, notice
that the sectionals had wide-ranges of colors to denote similar
elevations. This was especially noticeable out west where the
sectionals meet.

Lately I've noticed that some of the scans are really washed
out. It appears that this is the direction we're heading
because almost all of the sectionals in the recent batch are
like that.
https://aviationtoolbox.org/Members/...s/map_explorer
At least the difference in colors between sectionals for the
same area doesn't look as dramatic. (Maybe that's just
because *none* of the colors look dramatically different...)

To easily see the contrast, here's my home area.
https://aviationtoolbox.org/Members/...selected.x=449

I suspect that some simple image enhancement will restore some
of the beauty of the earlier scans but I haven't played with it
yet.

Anyone know the story of why this happened? They recently cut
the price of the DVDs in half. Are lower-quality scans part of
the cost savings?

--kyler