Canon announced that it has created a new Full-frame CMOS sensor with a resolution of 410 megapixels and a diagonal of 35 mm.“the highest number of pixels ever achieved” in a sensor of this size.
Because of the level of detail the new sensor can capture, Canon expects it to be used in “surveillance, medical and industrial” applications where there is demand for “extreme resolution”. Canon's 410 megapixel sensor has 24K resolution, which is 198 times greater than HD and 12 times greater than 8K. This makes it easy to crop and then enlarge a photo captured by the sensor without losing detail.
Usually the exorbitant number of megapixels is limited cameras with medium format sensors. But the beauty of Canon cramming so many pixels into a 35mm lens is that it can be used “in conjunction with lenses for full-frame sensors.”
To make this happen, Canon had to make quite a few design changes. The new sensor features a redesigned circuit design and a “multi-layer back-illuminated structure” where “the pixel segment and the signal processing segment are interleaved.” This means a readout speed of 3,280 megapixels per second and video at eight frames per second. The monochrome version of the sensor can combine four pixels simultaneously to capture even brighter images and shoot “100-megapixel video at 24 frames per second,” Canon says.
It doesn't look like this type of sensor will make it into a consumer camera anytime soon, but the fact that this level of miniaturization is possible means that one day it will be possible for photography enthusiasts who want it.