A couple of days ago Nikon announced the release of firmware update version 1.10 for the D3. However it has been confirmed that when certain settings are applied with the updated firmware, image data may, in some rare cases become corrupted. Therefore Nikon have terminated this firmware update download, and a new update is expected in late April. See the press release below for more details.

Termination of D3 Digital-SLR Camera Firmware Ver. 1.10 Download

On April 15, 2008, an announcement was made on the Nikon website that the Ver. 1.10 firmware update for the D3 digital-SLR camera was available for download. However, it has been confirmed that when the following settings are applied with the updated firmware, image data may, in some rare cases, be corrupted. Therefore, we have terminated the firmware update download. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.

• Release mode: Continuous high speed (CH), or Continuous low speed (CL) with Custom Setting d2 set to 9 fps
• Image area: FX format (36×24) or 5:4 (30×24)
• Image quality: NEF (RAW) or NEF (RAW) + JPEG fine/normal/basic
• NEF (RAW) recording>NEF (RAW) bit depth: 14-bit

  *The issue related to NEF (RAW) recording>NEF (RAW) bit depth may occur regardless of the option selected for NEF (RAW) recording>Type (Lossless compressed, Compressed, or Uncompressed).

If you have downloaded the D3 Ver. 1.10 firmware update but have not yet updated the camera’s firmware, please do NOT perform the update. If you have already updated the D3 firmware, please do not shoot with the combination of settings indicated above. This issue does not occur with other combinations of camera settings (for example, when NEF (RAW) bit depth is set to 12-bit, or when shooting in continuous low speed (CL) release mode with Custom Setting d2 set to 8 fps or lower.)

The download version of the revised firmware update is expected to be available in late April. For more information regarding this matter, please contact Nikon Customer Support.

Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. We hope that you will continue to choose Nikon for your photography needs.

Aditional information from the Nikon USA website