Hello to you all.

I genuinely want to discuss an issue relating to the current state of play w.r.t digital sensor technology.

For several months / years I have been watching the increase in the abilities of the digital camera scene and I wonder ...

Is it true that we are pretty much at the smallest pixel size on a sensor now ? Is it not true that going too much smaller than the size of pixel on a say 16M full-frame DSLR leads to worsening ISO performance and increasing noise ?

Without the figures in front of me, what is the Nikon D3 sampling each 'pixel' at ? Is it 12 bits per 'pixel' ? So is that 12 bits per red, per green and per blue ? A total of 36 bits per 'pixel' ?

IF (note the capitals) one were to sample at 48 bits per pixel would one not need a larger voltage to avoid excessive noise ? To get a larger voltage one needs a larger pixel right ? So if one were to sample at 48 bits per pixel one would start to max out in noise and ISO at what ? 6M pixels for a full frame 35mm sensor ?

Yes I do know my physics enough to know there is a limit. I just think we are pretty much at that limit. To get the colours of my scanner the camera needs to sample at 48 bits per pixel. To get this I need perhaps a 6M pixel full frame DSLR. 6M pixels would be pretty crappy right ?

I know my 2.4GHz pc is nearly 10 years old and the new ones are around 3.2GHz. Moore's Law is breaking down is it not? So too I think in the digital photography realm.

Nice replies only !