410 megapixels in full format: Canon presents record sensor

Canon has announced a full-frame sensor with 410 megapixels (24,592 × 16,704) the highest resolution ever at 35 millimetres, according to the Japanese manufacturer. If you prefer to think in moving images, this corresponds to a 24K resolution. In other words, 12 times 8K, 48 times 4K and 198 times FullHD.

However, you won't be able to take gigantic landscape shots with your holiday camera any time soon: The new sensor is intended for industrial applications that require high resolutions, such as surveillance and medicine. The price will be correspondingly high.

24K 8 FPS or 12K 24 FPS

According to the press release, Canon achieves the extremely high pixel density with a newly developed, stacked CMOS sensor that has a new switching pattern. The design can read 3280 megapixels per second, enabling videos with 8 frames per second (FPS). Alternatively, there is a monochrome version of the sensor, which reduces the resolution to 100 megapixels through pixel binning. This enables 24 images per second and better light sensitivity.

Medium-format sensors were previously required for resolutions above 60 megapixels. The Phase One XF IQ4, for example, manages 150 megapixels. However, as the sensor size increases, so do the cameras and lenses, which can be problematic depending on the application. Canon's new full-frame sensor, on the other hand, allows for a relatively compact overall system despite the high resolution.

The world's largest camera in the Chilean Andes manages a few more megapixels: 3200.