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Fred,
I looked into this in some detail once before - exactly the same thought !
There is no electrical difference between the mono and colour chips as far as I can see from the Kodak specification PDFs.
And there is No need for a firmware modification (impossible) all you do is download the RAW file and decode it as a B&W image (without bayer) using the DCraw utility as a mono - its what is used by many of the commercial software developers.
It can be batch driven, command line or with gui - so that is easy.
You just need the right gear to desolder the CCD - it will literally just fall off - that is not so hard - providing you can get someone else to do it with the right gear for you.
You couldn't even think about it using a conventional soldering iron or trying it yourself !!
The hard part is actually trying to buy one KAF8300 mono chip - I couldn't find one available anywhere, but then I didnt actually start making phone enquiries either.
Maybe someone out there can tell us ?
If so I would get one providing they are not ridiculously expensive.
I think I have 2 or 3 E300's lying around that could be modified.
They are a very rugged, bullet proof DSLR
Cheers
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