Hi,
I don't really see your point, but I feel that very good prints can be made from small MP files. Early on, 135 on good film was considered to be around 6MP, but it was found that 3 MP digital was actually good match for 135 film.
Now, my normal print size is A2, and I don't feel that 6 MP is good enough for that. But I don't see a lot of difference between 12 MP and 24 MP at that size. So, I would say that I (personally) need something like between 12 MP and 24 MP for a very good print. That difference from 6 MP to 24 MP is worth a journey to Iceland for me.
Personally, I would never buy a D3. I don't shoot high ISO or 10 FPS. I shoot on tripod, with MLU and at 50 ISO. So with my shooting habits a low MP high FPS camera simply make no sense.
Some folks are shooting high ISOs on free hand, that is another game, not about resolution but about getting that image.
Best regards
Erik
Given the unmentioned assumption of the loss of 6-9MPs of data that was the baseline of the discussion, I guess I would still rather have a D3 receiving, digitizing and processing it than my phone electronics. You can still do a lot with 3-6MP!
I don't want to read anything into your posting, but is seems like you are saying 3-6MP isn't worth the effort. I know guys doing more with 12MPs than most people with D8x0 cameras might ever do with 36MP. Like you wrote yesterday (paraphrase) Most equipment outperforms it's user!
About 12 years ago I took 2 photos of my 2 daughters holding monarch butterflies in the palm of their hands. My mother inlaw loved them and asked for prints. Of course, I had taken these with the 2MP Coolpix 950 I was playing with. But I have to say, after some significant post processing effort, I printed them at 11"x14". About 6 months later she recreated the photo with my Niece, the 3rd female grandchild. I shot that with a N90s and 85mm f1.8D trying to recreate the framing and perspective. The film was scanned with my Nikon LS-1000 Super Coolscan. There was much more data in this film scan and I was required to keep the image a little softer than I would like to match the other 2. All 3 prints still hang side by side in my inlaws home and I can tell you the 2MP images hold up respectably next to the 3rd. You really need to step up close and almost pixel peep to see the additional detail in the 3rd print. At normal viewing distance, it isn't really noticeable.