A camera list and resolution chart showing something like this would be helpful (and motivate manufacturers to build products trying to get higher up on this list):   After working on this list for a while and seeing more charts, understanding Nyquist sampling theory is helpful ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist%E2%80%93Shannon_sampling_theorem ). Take the sensor width in pixels and divide by 2 to get a fair estimate of sampling resolution before aliasing. While aliasing past Nyquist can hel