Camera back manufacturer Phase One has started shipping a digital SLR camera back that is capable of capturing images at a resolution of 39 megapixels.

The highest quality digital camera back ever — the P 45 is the world's only digital camera back with a 39 megapixel sensor available on the market.

The company is promising 35 frames per minute and write speed of up to 20Mb per second with each image coming in at a rather large 117Mb per file in size.

The P 45 digital camera back also includes Phase One's secure storage system (3S) technology. To make sure you never lose the shot you've just captured, the 3S technology eliminates the risk of writing to damaged storage media by first checking the validity on every compact flash storage card inserted in the camera back.

The P 45 isn't the first 39 megapixel sensor however. In October, Kodak announced it had created two sensors capable of capturing 31 and 39 million pixels.

The KODAK KAF-39000 Image Sensor, featuring 39 million pixels, and the KODAK KAF-31600 Image Sensor, with 31.6 million pixels have been designed for commercial, studio, and other professional photographers.

However the two Kodak sensors aren't available on the market yet.

We will keep you posted.