Photographers may need to forget the credit crunch. Hasselblad has unveiled a new 50-million-pixel professional digital SLR, which is expected to go on sale in the UK in October priced £25,844.

The H3D11-50 boasts a Kodak-made CCD imaging sensor said to be ?twice the size of the largest 35mm DSLR sensors?.

Commenting on its KAF-50100 (36mmx48mm) sensor Kodak claims: ?With a 50MP camera, on an aerial photo of a field one-and-a-half miles across you could detect an object about the size of a small notebook computer (1ftx1ft).

?What?s more, the sensor features a newly designed pixel that is smaller in size than the pixel used in current products for this professional market. This new pixel also reduces ?click-to-capture? time for improved camera response, lowers power consumption for improved battery life, and improves colour fidelity without compromising on the benefits to be enjoyed from larger pixel sizes.?

Hasselblad has confirmed that it will announce a ?larger? 645-format sensor at the upcoming Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany in September.

Hasselblad 50MP camera