Just how far can digital camera technology go? And just how good can they get? Recently we had a (very!) short opportunity to have a look at one of the new breed of high resolution digital cameras.

We're talking serious product here, not your run-of-the-mill digitals which are fast reaching the "free in every packet of cornflakes" stage. OK, slight exaggeration - but you get the drift.

While we've lusted after several digital cameras in the past year or so, they have been in the 3-4 megapixel range and most have been so-called "compact digitals" - more intended for consumer happy snaps, blown up to no more than postcard size, than for serious users (eg, very keen amateurs, or professionals such as media photographers, wedding/function/PR photographers, and so on).

And while 3 or 4 megapixels can give good results, by-and-large they have not been capable of competing with the results from most SLR (single-lens reflex) 35mm film cameras - even relatively inexpensive ones. When you wanted to make a big enlargement, or crop a small section of the image, film has won every time.