New Canon sensor records 30 times the quality of 4K

Megapixels aren't the be all and end all when it comes to photography (the sensor size and lens quality is more important) but they certainly don't hurt - and Canon just set the bar higher than ever with a new 250-megapixel APS-H sensor.

The APS-H refers to the physical size of the sensor: it's a little bit larger than the sensors on consumer DSLRs and a little bit smaller than the sensors in professional top-end models. In other words, Canon has done a clever job of packing all these megapixels into such a tiny space.

Open up a 250-megapixel photo on your computer and you can zoom and zoom and zoom into the tiniest of details. Take a video, and the frame size would be 30 times that of 4K - a rather impressive benchmark.

Pixels aplenty

You'd need to pair this with a seriously advanced (and expensive) lens to take advantage of all those megapixels but on a technical level it's another notable breakthrough in the world of digital photography.

With a picture size of 19,580 x 12,600 pixels, Canon says you could distinguish the lettering on the side of an aeroplane from about 11 miles away. According to the company the sensor uses "enhanced signal-processing technology" to reduce the noise you would otherwise see on such a big image.

It's likely to be a long time before a sensor like this makes it into your prosumer digital camera, but Canon says the new technology could be used for "specialised surveillance and crime prevention tools, ultra-high-resolution measuring instruments and other industrial equipment, and the field of visual expression."