How does one tell if a lens outresolves a sensor?

[Greg D]

And the corollary - how do you know whether your lens will be out-done by the resolving power of your sensor?

Since my glasses outresolve my eyes........

[seanesopenko]

When you see aliasing on 45 degree edges.  2 by 2 pixel clumps running up the edge.

[PhotoEcosse]

I guess that we are going to see a lot more on this issue.

On the British photography sites, the question tends to arise in one of two ways:

(a) Will my Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 G ED AFS lens be "good enough" to use on a D800? Or will I have to buy better lenses?

(b) Are Canon holding back the announcement of a 5D Mk111 until they have upgraded some of their lenses to suit it?

Nikon, in the Technical Guide for the D800/D800E seem to be saying that their better range of lenses will be perfectly suitable but they are warning that the "sweet spot" for each might be at a somewhat larger aperture. Inded, they seem to be warning about using any aperture larger than f/11 with f/8 being a safer bet.