David,

Your theoretical assumption would be operative if we were still living in the analog mechanical world of film photography, but in this high-tech digital environment, which is still far from mature, progressive advances remain at a steep climb. Sony for instance is making smaller than dSLR APS size 12 megapixel chips for point and shoot cameras which must have very small sensor site size, yet I have not heard noise is any more of a problem with their new 12MPX chip. If they can continue to improve the light gathering capability of the sensor while reducing size even more, the plateau of maximum megapixel size may be a ways off yet. I would not be all that surprised if full frame chips made by Canon reach 20 or more megapixels in the next few years.

So, it seems that what you're saying is that there is (will be) an optimal number of megapixels but it's just a long way off; that we don't yet know the technology we'll be using when that time comes. Am I reading you right?

Thanks.

David

Correct, you read me right. I don't think there is any substantive evidence that continued development in digital camera sensor technology has reached a plateau. And as long as a strong market remains that is competitive, the industry will continue to invest in performance progress and improvements.