"Nikon’s flagship full-frame DSLR, the D3, is a lot of things, but a megapixel warrior it is not, shooting a mere 12.1MP to other flagship DSLRs’ 20 . Nikon said it was avoiding the pointless megapixel war. But the latest firmware update for the D3 turns up a string for the “D3x” containing the image sizes “6048×4032 24.4 M” and “5056×4032 20.4 M.” Given that everyone else is speeding along pro DSLRs with 20 megapixels, the D3x probably exists, and shares common code w/ the D3. Nikon expert Thom Hogan goes further, suggesting the reason it’s in the code is because “there are some D3 bodies out there with the new sensor being tested.” That’s right, the new DSLR king, out there, right now."
I don't know whether or not to believe that the D3x is on the market in "stealth mode" as a D3, but it does seem reasonable that Nikon will have an "x" version of the D3 that bumps up the megapixels. 24 megapixels is a lot of data - so far with my D300 I capture at the maximum resolution, but if I had a 24 megapixel camera I'm not sure I'd keep the JPEGs in 24 megapixel format...each JPEG would be huge, and as cheap as hard drive space is, I'm not sure I'd be able to keep synching all my pictures to my laptop if they started getting twice as well. Oh well - it's not a problem I'm going to have any time soon because I'm perfectly happy with my D300.
Nikon D3 Firmware Update Reveals 24-Megapixel D3x
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