Right; when I looked up the resolution, I picked the wrong number, namely the middle-resolution.
Yes; however, those chips have microfilters, which increase the utilization of the light falling over that area. This reduces the sharpness, but that is a different issue. I was not disputing, that MFDBs yield better image quality than DSLRs; I was disputing the particular argumentation based on the sensel size; that is plainly incorrect.
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Gabor,
I would have thought that, in addition to any sharpness benefit flowing from the absence of an AA filter and microlens, the CCD DB, of same pixel pitch as a CMOS sensor, has a larger photon collector (deeper well, or greater fill factor) and can therefore accommodate a greater dynamic range, all else being equal (which it never is, of course).
In fact, when you consider all the factors that the DB has going for it, it's surprising that the DB is not better than it appears to be.
Consider the following which I believe are statements of fact:
(1) Doubling the sensor size results in any image of same FoV and DoF being comprised of double the number of photons, or double the amount of light at the same ISO.
For example, a 50mm lens on the 1Ds3 has, at F8, the same diameter aperture as a 70mm lens on the P45 at F11 (Aperture Diam=FL/F stop). Allowing for slight discrepancies due to different aspect ratios, the Field of View will be the same; the DoF will be the same; but the amount of light received by the P45 sensor will be approximately double at any given ISO.
(2) Due to the greater size of the CCD photodiode within each photosite, base ISO can be lower; for example ISO 50 instead of the usual ISO 100, assuming equal quantum efficiency. The base ISO of 200 on the D3, in place of the usuall ISO 100, is possible due to greater quantum efficiency. If the D3 photodiodes were the same size as its pixel pitch (as a result of all the on-chip processors being on the reverse side of the chip) then the D3 would benefit from improved image quality at ISO 100 and greater dynamic range.
(3) Any image taken at a base ISO of 50, using a 24x36mm DB, will be a product of 4x the amount of light as that used to produce the same image with a 1Ds3 at its base ISO of 100, assuming equal standards of correct exposure are applied.
Perhaps the surprising thing here is just how good the images are from 35mm DSLRs considering they can't manage to use more than 1/4 of the amount of light that a DB can use, when maximum image quality is sought.