Dalsa has introduced an image sensor that is 48mm x 36mm and has a photosite lattice of 8000 x 6000. The CCD is a Bayer pattern in the modern RGB configuration. (See the post "Bayer Sensors...Patented in 1976...")The technical paperwork in here. The claim is that even though each photosite is reduced in size by 30% from the previous generation sensor, the signal-to-noise ratio improved by the same amount.
Dalsa also has an excellent tech paper on how image sensors work here.
Luckily our data storage expands as voraciously as our pixel counts...
TimK
