Correct me if I'm wrong please, but I was under the opposite impression that currently the lenses should have more resolving power than the available sensors, up until 80mp - which is why I'm curious.
There seems to some disconnect by many about the relationship of the ability of a lens to resolve detail and the resolution of the sensor. I'll freely admit I'm not an engineer, but as with any analog data, there is no real correlation between that data and a digital representation. As with pretty much anything, to obtain the highest quality requires substantial oversampling of of the data. There is no 1 to 1 relationship of the analog detail and the sensels on the sensor. It's interesting that we've been talking about lens outresolving sensors for many years now, and most thought we would hit that point years ago.
I would assume there is a point where sufficient oversampling can be obtained that going further would gain nothing, but I don't think we are there yet. It's interesting that many testers of the IQ180 claim the resolution difference is more significant moving from the p65 than it was when moving from the p45 to the p65, even though it represents a lower percentage increase in resolution.
I see this debated frequently. I personally agree with Al that the goal is to get to where the lens is the limiting factor, not the sensor. Having too much sensor resolution won't affect image quality, but not enough certainly does. I hope we can get to the point that sensor resolution is high enough we can eliminate AA filters without issues, and maybe even create sensors that work differently and not use Bayer filters and algorithms.
Of course this assumes lens won't get any better ... but how can anyone assume anything anymore?
Ctein over at TheOnlinePhotographer.com always comes up with some interesting viewpoints. He's a smart guy so his opinion certainly has some merit (I won't debate how much, but he certainly knows a lot more than I do about things)
Metamaterials and Photonic CrystalsWhy 80 megapixels won't be enough