Just when we had hoped that the megapixel race was over for compact cameras Sharp has gone and announced a twelve megapixel 1/1.7" sensor. Lets face it the latest batch of ten megapixel compacts are nothing to get excited about, seven was enough in any compact, it's pretty sad to see another two million photosites crammed into the same space. A smaller photosite (in this case just 1.88 microns) means less sensitivity, higher noise (generally) and an even higher requirement on the lens optics (virtually no current compact has what we'd call a great lens). So expect to see this sensor in a new PMA compact camera with the same 3x zoom lens and ISO 3200.

Phil: Thanks to Franka T.L. for spotting this announcement.

Click here for the Sharp 12 megapixel, 1/1.7" CCD announcement
(Japanese)