In article , John A.
wrote:

Gotcha! But no, the
G R
B G
photo sensors don't make up one pixel. If they did, then a 12mp
sensor would have 48 million little silicon RGBG thingies. Some
advanced amateurs have been known to physically remove the bayer
filter, using powerful solvents to dissolve it. A de-Bayered 12mp
sensor then becomes a monochrome 12mp sensor, not a 48mp sensor.

In a way, the Bayer filter cheats a bit. The intensity of each
colored pixel is calculated by interpolating (demosaicing) the value
of the light that it registers as well as that of the differently
colored pixels that surround it. The result isn't 100% accurate,
but it's more than good enough. Seeing is believing!

Dissolving the filter doesn't change the circuitry and firmware.

true.

The
camera still interprets the 2x2 sensor array as one pixel.

where did you get that idea? have you been reading sigma/foveon
propaganda a bit too much?

they are definitely not taken in clumps of four. not only would that
would look like ****, but it would resolve a whole lot less than they
do now.