Super-resolution from small sensors?

[Olympusman]

When I was doing technical support at Olympus we would get user complaints about sharpness issues with our telephoto lenses at great distances (i.e. infinity). I would explain that with any lens the gretaer the distance the less sharpness encountered due to water vapor, pollution, winds and heat waves. I always kept on hand a couple of test shots made with the same lens. One was of a microwave tower on a mountain top a little over a quarter of a mile away. Between the Olympus campus and the mountain top was a very busy interstate highway. The image degradation was significant. I also had a shot of a ladder on a fuel tank about 200 feet away shot with the same lens, which turned out to be tack sharp. A lot more atmosphere makes a big difference.

Mike