Great input guys. Appreciated. Bondo - thanks again for the email and links.
The ability to have a more tuckable camera on occasion would be nice, but I tend to favor a more integrated-grip body for balance with a longer lens.
As an FYI, my bodies of choice over the years have been D1, D1H, S3 briefly, 1D2, 1DsMk1, 5D w/grip, 30D w/grip, 1Ds2. Been a C shooter of late for the sensors, but tend to prefer Nikon switchology vs Canon's soft-button approach.
Any switch idea is primarily being driven by the fact that Nikon (unlike C) now seems to get the message that the glass must live up to the sensors.
The ability to use (hopefully) a growing stable of AF glass that is (FINALLY) starting to produce IQ of that of some of the best alternate (for a Canon user) lenses out there is hellishly appealing. ZF and some of the sweeter AiS units would also give manual focus alternates w/o stop down and I can always use my Hassy 110/2 and some other choice MF glass on the D3 (Freudian slip?).
My suspicion is that when I weigh the prudent logical factors like $$'s saved, weight, etc,., etc., against the oh-so-powerful 'yeah baby...' factor (not to mention my ability to justify anything to myself) the D3 will be the likely outcome.;>