Sharp unveils tiny CCD with big resolution

Sharp announced a new, small, high-resolution CCD on November 1 in a Japanese press release. The new sensor is a 1/1.7-inch, 10-megapixel CCD designed for compact cameras. For consumer-level digital cameras, 9 megapixels are currently the upper limit, but 8 megapixels are more common in high-res consumer cameras. Digital SLRs often meet and exceed the 10-megapixel resolution, but they use much larger sensors and are much more expensive than consumer digital cameras. However, most consumers don't need more than 6 to 8 megapixels, anyway. Larger resolutions are generally useful only if you're planning to blow up the image a great deal or otherwise edit it heavily.

Don't expect to see 10-megapixel point-and-shoot cameras on shelves any time soon; Sharp won't be mass-producing the CCDs until January 2006.