and if you set up a single pixel CCD behind a filter that only allows a specific wavelength of light to pass through behind a series of holes/lenses that only allow a photon to hit the single CCD and you count the number of hits as intensity and you stop your experiment before you count more than (insert how many bits a PNG can keep per pixel) then when you save the output in a 1x1xbits PNG then it's lossless.

Actually, this is only true if the CCD has 100% efficiencies -- and that doesn't happen. For instance, typical lab PMT can have their efficiency reduced by several factors. The graph here indicates a maximum of around 30%, although I would swear I have seen manufacturers claiming numbers in the 40s and 50s.

In fact, I doubt a "perfect observation device" for optical phenomena can exist. I'd be interest if anybody had an example of one. Perhaps a Boise-Einstein condensate at low T could detect photons with 1:1 correspondence if the photon decoupled the condensate, but that's total speculation.

-Tats

Update: I should also point out the difficulties with mono-chromatic filters. These are theoretically possible, but to get a filter down to a one quantum bandwidth... is technically extremely challenging. The detector is the bigger problem for sure, though.

In fact, I doubt a "perfect observation device" for optical phenomena can exist. I'd be interest if anybody had an example of one.

I have one in my garage actually, I'll show it to you once I get my patents ;-).