[Leica] Re: digital M

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

>>According to Erwin Puts' very excellent _Leica Compendium_, which I just got
>>today, lenses like the Apo-Summicron-M 1:2/90 ASPH can easily resolve 100 
>>lp/mm
>>with high contrast even wide open.  That would require a CCD with a 
>>minimum of
>>7200x4800 pixels to resolve.  Is such a CCD in the works?  There's no 
>>point in
>>having lenses like this if they cannot be fully used.

I have written, ad nauseam, about this before and explained the fact that 
the minimum size for a pixel is 3 microns. It takes four pixels to 
represent one color pixel. That's 36 square microns per real pixel. The 
reason it cannot get any smaller is that there is not enough space to 
contain a large enough capacitor to capture enough electrons to represent 
how much light hit the pixel. As the pixel size gets smaller, the noise 
level goes up. And the yield goes way down and the price goes way up. And 
the image quality sucks. Semiconductor geometry is at the point where the 
atomic structure of the traces and junctions are interfering with the 
circuitry. When atoms are getting in the way, you simply cannot go any 
farther with the current technology.

I work as a senior scientist for Agilent Technologies Imaging Electronics 
Division. We design and manufacture imaging devices. This includes CCD and 
CMOS sensors and imaging chips and subsystems of all sorts. I deal with 
this stuff every day. In a sensor, the bigger the pixel the better. Five 
microns is a good size for good signal to noise ratio. This is 100 sq. 
microns for one color pixel.

You folks out there can believe anything you want. But the technology will 
not support your pipe dreams.

If there is a digital M, it certainly will not be the M you know and love. 
It will be plastic and probably AF. And a Japanese zoom as a lens. And made 
in Japan (or Korea, or China.) Just like the Leica P&S cameras. Actually 
you can buy this today. Most any consumer digital is the same. Just squish 
it into the shape of an M camera.

Jim