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Image Stabilised Binoculars?

SteveL

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SteveL

SteveL

Posted
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As I am off to the land of the free (or at least "land of the very much cheaper") for a couple of weeks, I was thinking about picking up a set of image stabilised binos. As they are stablised (to 0.7 or 0.8 degrees AFAIK), does that mean you can get away with a higher magnification than you could with normal binos? (Am looking at the 15x50 IS Canon units at the moment).

Any comments or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

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blinky

blinky

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I cannot remember why but the talk we had at Kielder from an optical designer at the local university said dont buy image stabilisation bino's! I think it may be the same thing as we have when focusing DSLR's on stars. If the image stabilisation bit cannot find a star then it cannot stabilise on it!

I think ;)

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SteveL

SteveL

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I was under the impression that stabilised binos detect the movement of the actual binos, not the movement of the image you are looking at. If that is the case, it wouldnt actually matter what you are looking at....

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Paxo

Paxo

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I was under the impression that stabilised binos detect the movement of the actual binos, not the movement of the image you are looking at. If that is the case, it wouldnt actually matter what you are looking at....

That's right Steve, its the movement of the unit not the image. I have several IS Canon camera lenses and they give you an effective extra stop of aperture to play with compared with standard lenses. My boss has a pair of Canon IS binos and swears by them for his nautical passtimes.

Regards

Steve..

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ringz

ringz

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Steve,

I belong to the BinocularAstronomy yahoo group and the people in there are really positive with regards to the Canon IS bins, in particular the 15x50 and the 18x50.

You might have a look in there to get more info.

--

Martyn

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Astroman

Astroman

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I had a chance to look through some Canon IS binos at a Messier Marathon a couple years ago. The difference between stabilized and unstabilized was remarkable. I'd recommend them easily, if I recommended things...The optics sense the motion of the binos, not the image, so they work very well indeed. The largest factors for eliminating wobble are your muscular motions in adjusting the weight of the binos, your breathing and, believe it or not, your heartbeat. The IS takes care of all of these extremely well.

So, since they're so cheap, and you'll be visiting here, how about bringing along a pair for me? :angry:

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Capricorn

Capricorn

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Just seen this while looking for something else.

A few years back I was at the bird fair at Rutland Water, basically went to try binoculars to choose a pair. Canon had 3 offering in image stabilised and the set with the medium magnification were the best.

Sorry to sound vague but looking at the canon site they have about 6 offerings and I cannot work out which ones I tried. The most powerful were not bad but the 2 lower powered offerings were better.

The image stabilisation worked fine but I suspect that the highest magnification was just too much. I think they may have been x30 or x20.

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  • 2 weeks later...
coopman

coopman

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I just received my Canon 10x30 IS binos 5 days ago. I am enjoying them a LOT. They take the jiggles in your hands and arms and "smooth them out" so that the image is much more stable. It is possible to see much more detail in the object that you are looking at when compared to normal non-IS binos that are being handheld. They do have some characteristics that I do not like however. The focus knob's full range is about a single 360 degree turn, so focusing is very finicky. The diopter adjustment on the right eyepiece is similarly very picky. The on-axis clarity does not seem as good as my normal 10x50 binos, but when you push the IS button things just get so much better - it's like you now have a handheld 10x spotting scope without the need for a tripod. You also have to keep the IS button pushed down to keep the IS feature engaged. If you let off the button with your finger, you'll be using them in non-IS mode instantly. I am using them for wildlife observation with great success so far, but due to hazy conditions at night have not done much in the way of astro viewing yet. I am quite happy with them overall, especially for the $330 price that I paid for them. My conventional binos will probably gather quite a bit of dust now.

Regards,

Clay

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FLO

FLO

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It was Canon that developed the technology necessary to produce fluorite lenses up to 6" and Takahashi (friends of Canon) who first put one in an astro-scope. If Canon ever start making astro-scopes - watch out!

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  • 9 months later...
Astronut

Astronut

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Dug this thread up searching for info on these binos.

How do they compare optically to other 'quality' binos for astro viewing without taking into account the stabilising feature? I've been reading the IS technology uses continously adjustable prisms so does this cause any optical aberrations in the view ie. are stars still close to the ideal pinpoints?

I've been thinking about getting either the 15x50 or 18x50 but they're a bit pricey.

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MikeP

MikeP

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As luck would have it, I had a look through a pair of Canon 15x50 IS yesterday during daylight.

They were SUPERB - very bright image and focussed beautifully. Never looked through IS binos before, so was amazed at how effective the IS is.

My own binos are Orion (US) 10x50 and are wonderful for stargazing - very bright views and well colour corrected. I'd guess the Canon's would be at least as good and the IS would make all the difference. I'd love to own a pair but the price is too high to make them good value.

Mike

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The Warthog

The Warthog

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One of the arguments against high power binoculars has always been the necessity to have some kind of mount to hold them steady against normal body shakes, but the IS technology seems to be knocking that argument on its head. I think that would be a great addition to anybody's kit.

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SteveL

SteveL

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Absoluetly EVERONE who has ever picked up my Canaon IS binos has gone "WOW!" and had a big grin on their face :)

(And then I could see their brains whirring away, trying to justify the cost to themselves!)

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