Microsoft Files Patent For 1.4 Gigapixel Camera

ZoomThis particular example achieves a resolution of 1.4 gigapixels (GP) by combining 4096 charged coupled devices (CCDs) with a resolution of about 0.34 megapixels (MP) each.

The process of generating one 1.4 GP image requires 4096 separate pictures (one for each CCD) that are combined into one image afterward. Each image will be creating an overlapping margin to the adjacent images to allow for a seamless composition of 4096 "tiles". To improve the image quality, the patent filing discusses a a video camera that provides a field of view larger than that of the lens, a cooling system to cool the ambient air inside the [camera] housing as well as "a light source synchronized with the digital sensor to illuminate a tile image from different angles or different spectrum at each step to reduce the time to capture the tile images with different illumination."

Such concepts aren't exactly new. For example, Fermilab scientists are using a similar idea to build a576 MP dark energy camera. For private use, such cameras are anyway something that may take some time to be realized and even then it may be questionable what we will be using such a camera for every day. However, if resolution is what counts, and you are looking for a high-res camera right now, there is Hasselblad's H4D-200MS 200-megapixel camera. Without a lens, the camera currently retails for about $44,000.