Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon 18x50 Image Stabilization All-Weather Binoculars w/Case, Neck Strap & Batteries

These things are incredible! I received a pair of the Canon Image Stabilization Binoculars as a gift from a friend and was immediately blown away by how well they work. The fact that they don't shake makes it possible to read numbers and signs at great distances. I race on sailboats and the ability to read call letters and names on competitive boats is a real help. I also got the clearest view of the moon I have ever seen last night. The large lenses really capture a lot of light, so that you can see clearly at night as well. They are pricey, but you really get you money's worth with this product.

My ten years with a $1,000 pair of Steiners was a long and happy relationship. Few things on a boat last that long or work so well. However......in pitching seas I never really mastered their use and when I needed them most, they served me the least. Along comes a nifty boat show demonstration of the new Canon Image Stabilizers (in an 18x50 setup....excellent for open water) and voila, the Steiners become below-decks backups and the Canons rise to the bridge. They are magnificent, with great optics, very good balance and of course the incredible advantage of image stabilization that actually works in 6 foot seas!

One of my co-workers got a pair of these from Amazon today. Wow! We stood at the window of our 24th floor office and read the menu of a hot-dog cart on a corner a block and a half away.

What really clinches it (and made it possible to read the hot-dog cart menu) is the image stabilization. If you have a high magnification, any minor shake of your hand is magnified. Try it with a video camera with one of thos high digital zooms. When you're at 100x, even the electronic image stabilization can't compensate just for the average minor muscle twitches in your hand.

The image stabilization on this is optical (i.e. analog), not digital, meaning there's no fuzzing of the image as a processor tries to adjust the image to compensate for vibration. Optical zoom and optical stabilization require more expensive mechanical components to implement, thus you'll see mid-range video cameras offering their digital counterparts to enhance or substitute for optical zooms and stabilizers.

Given, these binoculars will set you back a pretty penny, but you could go to a ball game, sit in the nosebleeds and count the laces on the ball. Definitely a very cool thing for the gadget-oriented.

I've owned my 18x50 binocs for two years now, and have used them mainly for astronomy. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but...

(1) I found the image to be less stable than expected. It's certainly better than with no IS system at all, but not as solid as you'd get from using a good tripod. Of course, using a tripod near the zenith is a problem, but there are solutions for that, such as the Sky Window system (the binocs look downward, at a mirror). After an hour's observing, you'll definitely notice how heavy these binocs are.

(2) I found a large amount of residual color on bright objects...red on one side, blue on the other. I attribute this to the prisms used in the IS system.

(3) The maximum interocular distance is just barely wide enough for my eyes. The diopter adjustment has considerable stick and slip. I'd rather wear my glasses than mess with the diopter, but the eye relief isn't sufficient.

(4) The binocs come without lens OG lens caps, which is strange, considering how expensive they are.

I suggest you NOT buy this binocs online. Go to a store that will let you take them outside. Examine a star-like object, such as sun glint off a power line insulator. Check out the IS, the residual color, and the weight. See if the store will let you have them "on approval," and try them out at night.

And don't forget, you can buy a pretty good apochromatic telescope for $2000.

Roger Rensvold
Hong Kong

I needed a good set of binoculars for my wife & me. We are in excellent bear & deer country in Wisconsin and like to ride around watching the wildlife. I am a disabled Vietnam Vet and my hands shake a lot. Spotting scopes and high powered binoculars never worked well for me in the past. You touch them and everything goes out of focus. These image stabilizers work great! For the first time I can really zoom in and see clearly. They are a little heavy and you wouldn't want to carry them around your neck long. But overall I love them.