PhaseOne's $42,000 Digital Camera

Copenhagen (Denmark) - Let’s assume you have $40,000 lying around to spend on a gadget. What could you buy? You could get a full-featured Kaleidescape home entertainment center or Barco’s 56" Quad-HDTV. You could get two Toyota Prius hybrids, one for your spouse and one for yourself. You could buy an 18th century bottle of Chateau Lafite wine to enjoy the entertainment your existing gadgets provide. Or, you could buy a PhaseOne digital camera - with a 65 megapixel sensor.

PhaseOne announced its P65+ digital back, which offers a resolution of 8984 x 6732 active pixels, resulting in a total resolution of 60.5 megapixels. The company did not provide information on the CCD sensor, which the company calls "Sensor+" technology, but said that the system is capable of taking one image every second.

An 8 bit RGB image will result in a 180 MB file, which means that an 8 GB memory card is good for about 45 pictures in full resolution.

The P65+ digital back is priced at $39,900. The full camera starts at $41,990. PhaseOne also offers cameras with less resolution - such as a 21-megepixel camera for about $13,000.

Last week, Kodak announced a 50 megapixel image sensor, which will be used in Hasselblad’s upcoming H3DII-50 camera. The camera will be available in October for $39,995.