Orion Mini Giants 9x63 and Canon18x50 IS Binoculars

[Joves]

Hi all,

Having observed with telescopes for a fair while now, I'm forever reading of the joys of viewing through binoculars. So, last week whilst purchasing a Coronado PST, I decided to also grab hold of a pair of Orion Mini Giant 9x63's. I hadn't ever really looked up at the skies through a pair of binoculars before and I must say, I was amazed. I can't tell you the last time I enjoyed looking through my scopes as much as I did star hopping through the constellations with the Mini Giants. There was something just so simple, beautiful and rewarding about it. So impressed I was, that I immediately started looking at different bino's on the net and impulsively ordered a pair of Canon 18x50 Image Stabilizer's. Well, they've arrived today. And first impressions... They're AWESOME! Even better is the fact that, surprisingly, skies are clear tonight, so I'm about to head out and give them a proper test run.

Anyway, the point of this story if it really has one (aside from sharing my excitement at having gotten a new toy) is that anyone considering buying a reasonably inexpensive pair of binoculars should not hesitate to grab a pair of the Orion Mini Giants. The image through them is beautiful. And they're extremely manageable, hand-held. Whilst I'm excited to have the Canons, there is no way the Orions are simply going to be shelved. I can see them getting as much use as each other.

For anyone interested, I'll check back in and let you know how the Canon's get on!

Oh, and in case you're wondering... The PST is brilliant also. I do blame it for the lack of weight in my wallet at the moment though!!

[SteveNickolls]

Really pleased you love your new purchases. Upgrading to binoculars is a brilliant idea. I would be very interested in a review of the Canons when you can. Clear skies. Steve

[Damo636]

Congrats on your new bins!! Those Canon IS are an interesting piece of kit. I've no idea how they work but have read lots of good things about them. Enjoy!

[Joves]

Thanks guys.

Just spent a little while out with the new Canon's and have to say that I absolutely love them. Was only a quick session but I'm already massively impressed with the image stabilisation. At 18x mag handheld, a fair amount of jitter is to be expected when you try to hone in on an object. But then, hit the IS button (hold it down for continuous use or press it once for it to stay active for 5 minutes - or press it again to disable it) and after a brief moment, the shakes stop altogether and tone down to a gentle sway (was me doing the swaying, by the way... Hopping from Antares to Ptolomy's Cluster, across to the Butterfly Cluster, then down to the Lagoon and Trifid Nebula's and then down to Omega and Eagle Nebula's whilst Scorpius and Sagittarius are directly overhead can challenge the balance in the best of us!). The best part of all? I just swayed my way through these beauties, several times, in less time that it usually takes me to muster the energy to even look at my 10" LX90, let alone even start to think of setting it up!

I can't stress enough how impressed I am with these binoculars. I'm under less than even close to perfect skies (Sydney, about 750 metres from the CBD), yet the clarity and contrast in the view through these is amazing. First impressions... More than satisfied with the optics. That being said, I don't own any Zeiss bino's to compare them with, but I can't imagine the views to be so much better that they would outweigh the ability to simply grab the Canons, walk onto the terrace and start scanning the skies with 18x magnification unmounted.

I was a little concerned that the field of view might be a bit restrictive, but I have to say that the 3.7 degrees have proved to be ample. The steady view certainly helps with this. Resolving doubles (albeit fairly easily resolvable doubles) is so much easier in these than in the Orion Mini Giants. Obviously having twice the 9x magnification goes a long way in helping, but the combination of mag and steadiness makes it an absolute breeze. Navigating my way around Crux was an absolute joy, starting at the easy double Acrux, up to Mimosa with the beautiful Jewel Box sitting at its side (no view of the Coalsack due to light polluted skies), then up into Centaurus to view the always impressive Omega Centauri cluster, easily spotted as a brightly hazy patch spanning more than half a degree, just begging to be resolved further under either darker skies or with a little more magnification (no sign of Centaurus A to Omega's west... again, these darn skies) and then up for a look at the beautiful Pearl Cluster. Back to Crux and down to the Running Chicken Nebula, a little further still to our gorgeous Southern Pleiades, and then across a little way to finish up the session with a beautifully bright view of Eta Carina.

Sounds like I'm doing a whole heap of name-dropping, I know... And, in a way, I purposefully am. But for good reason. To illustrate how impressed I am with my new Canon 18x50 IS binoculars and, much more importantly, to remind myself of just how much I've just been able to see, under light polluted skies, in literally 15 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I love my telescopes and wouldn't trade them for the world, however, I can't help but wonder why I didn't get into "binocular astronomy" sooner?! In case you can't tell, I think it's fair to say I'm hooked!!

[Damo636]

Great report, the Canon 18x50 sounds mighty impressive!

Clear skies :-)

[Joves]

Oh, and whilst I was out there, I was fortunate to see either the same satellite or a number of them (not sure if they change direction in a matter of only minutes?!) gliding through the the sky like a slow-shooting orange star. Tracking it smoothly with the IS was the icing on tonight's cake!

[Joves]

Thanks Damo... Very happy with them!

[Stu]

Nice report Joves, I can imagine your wallet is feeling the strain after that lot

[Alma]

A couple of recommended accessory tips for the Canon IS I picked up from other SGL contributors here (thanks, folks!) ... are :- 1) a pair of Hoya soft rubber 58 mm lens hoods - these provide reasonable protection for the rather exposed lens element of the Canon IS's and act as dew/light shield to boot - they screw in to the 58mm filter threads of both the Canon 15 and 18x50's and because they're wide angle, don't cause any vignetting, and 2) a Konig Neck Tripod - I find this indispensible for stargazing with the Canon IS's as they relieve some of the strain of handholding the bins and also steady the view sufficiently for the IS to work at its best - the Neck Tripod takes care of the major movements and the built in IS then removes the final few micro shakes - using this combo is like having the Canons mounted on a heavy duty tripod !

[Joves]

Thanks Stu. Yep, I've spent waaaaaaaaay too much money on this hobby in the last little while! Ah well... It doesn't go out of date, I suppose!!

'Swims' is a perfect way of putting what the image does through the Canons. You still definitely have to be mindful of keeping still and steady, but I find the IS works amazingly.

Guess I now need to get me a sun lounger and a dark site!

Cheers and clear skies!

Aaron

[Joves]

Good advice thanks Alma. First thing I did after they arrived was head out and buy a pair of lens caps for them... Bit pathetic of Canon to not include them, I reckon. They're not cheap bino's... Who in their right mind spends $1400 on binoculars and prefers not to protect the lenses?!

The Hoya lens hoods sound like a good idea. As does the Neck Tripod. I've got a Manfrotto monopod with a trigger grip, which I've been using the few times I used the Mini Giants, and that works great. Haven't been out long enough with the Canons to have bothered mounting them as of yet. Perhaps the Neck Tripod is just the thing... As funny as they look!

[Stu]

Good idea which I haven't tried, think I've got a cheapy neck tripod somewhere so will give it a go.

I too got caps for mine, but only recently as I didn't realize they just take standard sizes.

The other thing I have played around with is filters. I have some reducing rings which fit the bino threads and allow me to use 2" filters on them. Have tried with a mix of UHC-S and OIII filters (that's all I have!) and have picked up the eastern veil with them, just a bit of fun really but nice to see what you can achieve with them. Would be good for the NA nebula at a dark site.

Cheers

Stu

[Joves]

Yep, they take standard 58mm camera lens caps.

Will probably look to get some filters and give them a shot. As you say, just for a bit of fun. Thanks for the tip, Stu.

[Alma]

Yep, any form of tripod may seem counter intuitive for IS binoculars, but what I've found with the neck tripod is that it removes the swimming effect and allows you to steady the image sufficiently for the IS to eradicate virtually any amount of movement - the effect is remarkable, and with a virtually still image you can detect fainter stars more easily.

[Joves]

Sounds like a great option, thanks Alma. Will definitely look into one.

Cheers.