1/1000 seemed to do the job, regardless of my jittery hands. Below that, it seems like I needed to brace the camera against something like a light pole. Otherwise, I was nailing some and blurring other shots, even at 1/500.

In terms of "affordable" image stabilization, B&H wants $1150 for the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens. That's pretty painful, compared to my $250 Nikon AF 70-300 f/4.0-5.6 ED lens. Of course, it doesn't have any of the whizzy features of the Canon lens, but that's reflected in the price. (The Tamron lens with the same specs costs $150, apparently rolls off the same assembly line as the Nikon lens, and is effectively identical, modulo cosmetic differences.)

Somebody needs to built a lens with specs comparable to Canon's IS lens for under $500. That will be a best seller!