If this looks to be a universal camera then my concerns are as follows:
- what are the requirements for shooting hand held - does the average person need 1/2xfocal-length or 1/3x-focal-length or..?
- how do the various lenses with Nikon's current VR technology help with the above?
Being able to use a sufficiently fast shutter speed for hand-held shots at low ISO has always been a problem in photography when the subject is not brightly illuminated. It's why Canon invented its Image Stabilisation system, and it's why Nikon followed later with its VR system. I find these technologies tremendously useful. They remove the need for a tripod much of the time.
One should not forget that neither a tripod nor VR technology will serve much purpose when the subject is moving. However, for static subjects, modern VR and IS lenses can offer a 3-stop shutter speed advantage which actually translates to 1/8FL when using a non-VR lens.
For example, if a non-VR 100mm lens requires a shutter speed of 1/100th for a reasonable chance of a sharp shot, then a 100mm lens with the latest VR technology should provided similarly sharp results at 1/13th sec, but not a guaranteed sharp result of course, because of the random nature of hand-shake.
I've never bothered to test this, but the methodology would be to take several shots of a static target, using say a 100mm lens at 1/13th with VR on, then the same number of shots at 1/100th with VR off.
After examining the results, one should find that a few of the shots in both cases are tack-sharp, some moderately sharp, and a few, perhaps most, below standard.
In order to increase the chances of getting a sharp result, I would prefer to use 1/2FL without VR, say 1/200th with a 100mm lens, and 1/25th with VR switched on.
In a situation where a shutter speed of 1/13th or even 1/25th of a sec is required with a 100mm lens, I think a tripod would be more reliable than VR. It should produce sharp results every time, provided MLU is enabled.
On the other hand, if lighting conditions permit a shutter speed of 1/FL, I think that could reasonably be considered sufficient to get the best out of a D800 if the lens has VR technology. Perhaps this is why most of the lenses recommended by Nikon for use with the D800 are VR lenses.