sensor for optical heart rate monitor

As suggested in the circuit on the site Calculating the heart rate - data logging experiment
if i use a photodiode-phototransistor pair (sfh 487-sfh 309) as a sensor...what will be the output current range of the transistor...??
Will it be detectable???
What signal conditioning will i require if i want to give the output of sensor to 8051 microcontroller via an ADC....??