This is not meant to be contentious.
for someone wishing to stick with Nikkor glass, this is an important matter and you will find highly polarized views on this subject on FSLRT
sometimes the discussions here have been heated and often folks authoritatively contribute who actually have little or no experience with both cameras, such as Goncalo
I don't know that you can appreciate the depth of passion the S3 evokes, both negative and positive, which may explain Bernie's curt response
I seriously considered the D2X ...it has many virtues that are very tempting ...faster fps, larger buffer, more robust body, better AF, iTTL
for my photographic interests, these were not an important consideration
from what I have seen in now countless D2X posts the greater resolution of the camera is just not that noticeable when compared to the S3 output and I have downloaded many, many full resolution samples from NEF from the D2X ...the increased resolution its there, but really not that much different from what I get with my S3 and it should make little if any difference for images printed at sizes most would use ...ths S3 certainly resolves more than the D2X in high DR scenes as it clearly has greater dynamic range ...if a highlight is blown or a shadow detail lost, was it resolved??? ...the SCCD design resolves more than 6 MB and less than 12 MB, but seems closer to 12 than 6 to my eye
I do see numerous threads about blown highlights from the D2X in its forum (take a visit, why don't you) and many posts asking "are these skin tones good?" questions as well (that Nikon D2X users download a curve to emulate Fuji color speaks volumes about image quality ...btw Nikon Capture is required to download a curve & is not included with the $5000 price of the D2X, but must be purchased seperately) ...I am also starting to see threads about concerns with the Sony designed 12 MB CMOS sensor (a first for Sony, btw) at the margins when using a wide angle lens ...this seems a problem with the large Canon CMOS sensor as well & may be another of the liabilities inherent in using CMOS sensor whose main advantage over CCD remains cheaper production costs ...the S3's sensor is clearly less noisy at high ISO which reflects the basic difference between CMOS and CCD capture
the S3's body is a Frankencamera, but now the third such built by Fuji & clearly a superior body to the S2, which proved highly useable and more than adequate for many of us
Nikon makes outstanding camera bodies, without question
Fuji manufactures its own sensors in its own chip foundry & Fuji has been an innovator in sensor design since the S1 ...they mated this state of the art sensor with truly "radical" (the NY Times critics word, not mine) image engineering that has so improved jpg capture such that RAW really is not needed with the S3 ...for me this is a huge advantage
people pooh pooh the fact that the S3 captures using a 14 bit AD converter while the Nikon (and Canon) SLR use 12 bit AD converters, but this finer approximation of the critical analog to digital conversion step may be the key to the Fuji's outstanding image quality, along with the increased dynamic range, which contrary to what the S3 naive Goncalo stated, is very real & appreciated in jpg when shot in Adobe RGB mode and at orig orig off Wide2/Auto settings
indeed, for me, the ability to nearly abandon RAW capture with the S3 has been its most "radical" advantage ...the jpg output offers a myriad of options for shooting and can produce a file, when set up properly, that makes shooting RAW much, much less necessary
the S3 makes getting outstanding image quality simple ...in challenging lighting the S3 allows for capture in jpg, what the D2X struggles to get in RAW ...my thinking about photography has changed ...the advantages of wider DR capture can transform your photography ...DR plays a much bigger role than I would have imagined
to make any reasonable sense of this try to look at as many full resolution images as you can from both cameras if you can not get your hands on one to give it a work out
both are very capable and you should make your decision based on how you shoot and what you need
for me, the D2X'es body advantages were just not worth the > 2X price differential as I find the image quality output of the S3 superior to the D2X for the kind of photography I love to shoot
hope this helps
--
pbase & dpreview supporter
Fuji SLRT forum member since 5/2001
http://www.pbase.com/artichoke 
