Anthony,
If you have followed the digital camera market at all, you should know that prices for mega-pixel cameras that approach film quality for standard sized prints are now less than $500 and falling fast. Once film quality is reached, the only thing left is price and other features.
As far as photography is concerned, I am clueless, but from the little I know, a megapixel resolution of today's cameras is still several orders of magnitude below film quality.
But a question is: Do digital cameras (or Foveon) need to achieve film quality in order to replace film?
In consumer market, the answer is probably NO. The digital cameras for the consumer market just need to keep up with current display technology (CRTs, LCDs). Few people will have a "fore-sight" to spend an amount that is a multiple of a typical consumer price in order to get a camera, which will capture pictures that several years in the future will look great on their displays.
The professional market is probably a completely different picture. I think it is convenient to have a film quality resolution. Your typical page in a magazine is probably in 1200 dpi, if you have a letter size page, you need a resolution of 10,000 x 13,000 if you want the source to match the output 1:1. But even this resolution is probably still below film quality.
Joe |
