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

I bought these for an upcoming alaskan cruise and boy and I glad I did. We had some other 10x25 binocs that I used for years and wanted an upgrade to something more substantial. These are amazing! They are so clear and the stabilization is the most impressing aspect of them. I have used them at least once a day since buying them for bird watching, astronomy (the moon looks amazing) and for watching a new housing development go in about 3 miles away. My parents are considering getting a pair for the cruise too, I plan to share but I don't think I'll want to be without these for long. Wonderful product that I plan to use for years to come.

Get these binoculars, if you can afford them. I have looked at, or through, Zeiss and Leicas, and the Canon's are of equal quality.

The image stabilization works, period. You can see detail that is NOT possible without IS. Also, the binoculars are very usable without the IS feature, more so than I would have thought.

My suggestion, buy the highest magnification that will fit your application, since IS gives the greatest benefit at higher powers.

This binocular is a gem. The optics are great, the IS system works very well. They perform as advertised! Why Canon does not provide objective lens caps is a mystery to me. I purchased Canon's 58mm UV haze filters and 58mm snap on lens caps to complete the package (so...I spent more money on Canon products...hmmm...above mystery solved!). These really are spectacular binos and are manufactured to a very high quality standard. As in any best of the best product sometimes you pay appreciably more to get small noticeable improvements. These binos are no exception to the rule, but IMHO worth every cent.

The optics and general quality are what to expect for binoculars at one third the price. But image stabilization changes everything. At 18X power, conventional hand-held binoculars, even thousand dollar ones, require support; either tripod or at the very least, elbows carefully resting on a car roof or on both knees when sitting on the ground. (The latter two methods rule out skyward viewing or sweeping views). The base is threaded for tripod use, which serves as a reminder of what you would need if you forgot to put in the two AA batteries. The Image Stabilizer feature is fingertip selective, so that fully comparing the IS image with the non-stabilized image is easy in all situations. The stabilization is not perfect, as there is still some need to hold them steady. But the residual image-shake is less than for 6X power unstabilized binocs, and the effect at 18X is very pleasing, even startling -- binocular Image Stabilization is no gimmick. One-handed viewing is nearly as good as with a two handed grip, something out of the question for ordinary binoculars. A limitation of the IS feature is that when attempting sweeping views, or when following moving objects like airplanes, there occurs minor blurring as the system tends to misunderstand the user's deliberate movement as jerkiness. Thus it is necessary to follow objects smoothly. These binoculars came without lens caps for the objective lenses, a remarkable omission since the objective lenses are not well protected in the shallow recess of the encircling frame ridges. Presumably this is to keep bulk to a minimum. The eyepieces have somewhat oversized fold-back rubber cups. While these cups are not ergonomically shaped, as they could be -- bumping the eye brow while still admitting light at the sides -- they fold back for eyeglass wearers, and offer good incidental lense protection when extended. The soft, padded, lightweight nylon carrying case is adiquit, but could use a waist belt loop for easy carrying. (A premium quality hard case would be a nice accessary.) The carrying weight is not bad, feeling about the same as ordinary 50 mm porro prism binoculars.

I was very pleased with the Canon 18x50 IS binoculars. We took them to the Galapagos Islands and they performed well. Teh IS really assists with ship rocking and minor shakes. I have a few thoughts that would make these binoculars more user friendly.
1. Try to make them lighter. My wife found it difficult to carry them for extended periods of time.
2. Please add fip open ocular and objective lens caps rather than the loose caps. These get lost and the ones tied to the binocular body make it easier to cover the lneses in inclement weather.
3. Making the units water proof and not just resistent would be a big factor for those of us who use the binoculars in nature photography especiall in a canoe or kayak.
4. Having an optional camera adaptor would be great for photography buffs.

Overall this binocular is a great addition to the human eye.