"Tripods are no longer required, and actually often degrade sharpness, because shutter speeds have climbed and IS and VR lenses reduced the need for slower speeds."
Excellent - I hope all of my competitors in the business heed his advice!
Three days too late, but I love, even after someone posted KEN's qualifier, that people are still going "Haha, check out this 10 minute exposure - hand held baby!" Oy vey.
It really depends on what you are doing. I set up a 1Ds Mk III and 200mm F2.0 from the side of the hall on a Wimberly II and Gitzo stix. But I soon sat down in the front row and shot handheld. The 200mm has "4/5 stop IS" so it was easy to get steady results at 1/125 (in static subject tests I usually get about 3 out of 5 shots in focus handheld at 1/5 sec).
