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Stock agencies like Seapics.com and OceanStock.com accept digital images taken by digital SLRs 6 megapixels or higher. However, six megapixels, unprocessed, is not enough information to make a suitable print without some intelligent processing. Labs like Pictopia.com use proprietary up-res and sharpening technology that rivals best practices currently used in the field. In the absence of such technology, images must be manually processed before being printed, and digital photographers often have to deliver larger resolutions to stock agencies who are not equipped with the expertise to do such processing.

There is also the ubiquitous discussion comparing images captured by digital cameras with images obtained through high-quality drum scans of slides. I'm not interested in that debate. I just want to show what a 6 megapixel camera like the Canon D60 can output when properly processed. Below is an image I shot in JPG mode with my Canon D60. I used stair interpolation (done manually, without a purchased action) to increase the resolution (with various mild sharpening steps) to 7200x4800. I then cropped out 600x400 pixel sections, which are below as well. They have been saved as lossless PNG files (I apologize for the size of the files!) to eliminate jpg artifacts.
 

Original file, shot with a Canon D60


100% crop of stair-interpolated image (upper-right red rectangle, above)


100% crop of stair-interpolated image (middle red rectangle, above)

You are free to make your own conclusions about the detail that a D60 can capture. I think it looks pretty damn good, and will take it over a scanned slide any day.