I've been brewing this article for awhile now, and I think it's ready to taste: everything you need to know about VR. But the short answer is: VR should always be off unless you specifically need it. Always. Update: I've corrected a few things in the article. Nikon tells me the sampling frequency is 1000Hz, but this just is another verification that 1/500 is the limit to VR's overall usefulness.