The Gigapixel project

The advent of digital technology has caused a revolution in the way we think of photography. Before this revolution, most of us thought of photography in terms of images captured on film that subsequently would be transformed into prints by way of photographic enlargement. However, rapid proliferation of digital cameras, scanners and printers has changed this perception. Even the prevailing jargon has changed. Where previously an image was described in terms of granularity and acutance, it now more often is defined by pixel count and dpi. Meanwhile, those of us who have spent much of our lives in the pursuit of film-based photography keep asking ourselves whether such photography can survive; and, if it does, what role will it play? When we debated this question in late 2000, it seemed reasonable to assume that digital cameras with resolutions in the 10-megapixel regime would become commonplace within a few years. This would put them in head-to-head competition with 35-mm film-based technology; perhaps even displacing that technology entirely within a decade or so. On the other hand, it seemed unlikely that digital cameras with resolutions much in excess of 10 megapixels would appear in the near term. Especially unlikely would be the emergence of digital cameras with resolutions approaching 100 megapixels. As a consequence, we felt it likely that film-based large-format photography would for the time being remain unchallenged. With this in mind, we have concentrated recent endeavors upon the application of ultra-high-resolution techniques to the field of large-format photography. Link