[font color=\'#000000\']It amazes me — the confusion over this issue. I was referring to a "real" 10MP chip, (which in Foveon terms would, I suppose, be 30MP). But, I regard this way of calculating to be akin to what Fuji does with it's digital specs.
Michael[/font]
[font color=\'#000000\']David,
Since Michael has already confirmed that he was referring to a 'real' 10MP Foveon chip, I don't see why he should be doubted and even ridiculed.
Whilst it's true that a 10MP Foveon chip will require 30M photodetectors, as opposed to the 10M photodetectors of a conventional 'Bayer' type 10MP chip, the Foveon chip has three layers of silicon. Therefore pixel density, or more correctly photodetector density, should not be as much of an issue.
On what basis do you find the notion of a 10MP Foveon chip so fanciful?
If a 3.43MP Foveon chip, as in the SD9, is roughly equivalent in image quality to a 6MP Bayer type chip, a 10MP Foveon chip should be equivalent to an 18MP conventional chip. Not necessarily a huge improvement over the 1DS and 14n, but I would think a worthwhile improvement.[/font]