Totally ridiculous question:

But nevertheless:
if one wanted to build a dedicated black & white video camera (assuming one is Canon), would it be possible to use most of the current standard technology to come up with a much higher resolution picture than the colour version of the same camera, because of the fact that much less data needs to be recorded?
Of course the answer is no.....because the three chips record the same bit of the image (one could shift them a bit..mm?).

For me that would be an interesting camera indeed (especially for transfer to 35mm).

Thanks!

I think the answer is yes. For the same money you could do a
higher resolution BW camera.

Of course the answer is no.....because the three chips record the same bit of the image (one could shift them a bit..mm?).Some Canon cameras like the XL1 use pixel shifting to get more resolution out of the CCDs. I think that's exactly what you're suggesting.

2- Even if you had a B+W camera with high resolution, you'd need to record it onto a format that supports all that extra resolution. I think only the JVC HD camera would be practical in terms of cost/money. Shooting in black and white may avoid some of the artifact issues that camera may have.

On the other hand, it can be advantageous to shoot in color so you have greater control over your black and white image. Using combinations of the red, blue, and green channels will give different results. If you shoot outside, using the blue channel for the black + white image will give brighter skies. If you know beforehand what you want, you can use color filters to achieve the same results.

Yeah! That camera could have a color filter setting for BW effects instead of white balance! I played around with a colour picture in photoshop and using the color channels with curves (apple/ctrl + M) you can indeed imitate the effects that color filters would have on BW film.
I bet in 20 years that camera hits the market when there's enough weirdos wanting to shoot B & W.
Saw Citizen Kane again last night. Who needs color?