Well, along with several other shooters I've been using a late pre production D2x at London fashion week. I've posted a small gallery of low res images here. As a long term Canon user I can say I'm quite impressed with the D2x image quality especially at low ISO. The overall handling of the camera is the same as the D2h except that the screen is better and the menus are even more complex. The camera is fast in operation and the AF seemed no worse on the walking runway models than my Canon 1DmkII. I got the best results with Nikon's marvellous 200mm f2 AF lens which I love.
Ok, the bad news, with the pre-production sample I was using, in Jpeg fine at 800 asa with noise reduction off there seemed to be faint but visable diagonal stripe noise across the whole image. With noise reduction on there was some bad detail loss and what I can only descirbe as a pastel like effect. I'm not sure how much of this can be avoided by shooting NEF as Nikon did not have the latest Nikon capture software at the event. I'm also not sure whether the noise would actually be apparent in newsprint as it is only obviously visable at 100% magnification, so for majority of news photographers it is unlikely to be a big issue. I did not get a chance to try over 800 asa though.
Would I change from my trusty 1Ds and 1DmkII cameras back to Nikon, I don't think so as I've got used to the full frame and faster shooting rates that those cameras offer. If you are on the Nikon system there is real food for thought now, if you don't need corrected ultrawides and seldom go over 800 asa then you now have a real choice.
800 asa crop of image centre at 100%, D2x, 28-70 f2.8
(Click to enlarge)
The same image full frame downsized to fit on screen
800 asa crop of image centre with Noise reduction on, 17-55 f2.8
