Binoculars with OIS

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I noticed recently that Chris Packham has been advertising/recommending Canon binoculars with a built in Image Stabaliser.

What benefit does the OIS give to binoculars? Also, if the technology exists, can you get bins with "auto AF" ?
 
Try and hold a pair of 18× bins steady,like trying to handhold a long tele lens
 
Try and hold a pair of 18× bins steady,like trying to handhold a long tele lens

Well that's a given, but these were only 10x or 12x, not exactly like trying to handhold my birding scope.....
 
Canon's IS binoculars are brilliant, but bigger and heavier, and expensive.

I'm not sure many people would want AF. It probably wouldn't work too well for a lot of things, like birds in trees, and would certainly add more complexity, weight and cost.

To a limited extent, binoculars are already autofocus in that our eyes can pull things into sharp focus when they're a bit out. Doing that soon makes your eyes ache though.
 
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I don't think "auto af" exis on binoculars???

OIS makes an image less shakky when watching which is usefull with big magnification. I have never tried a pair before but it is supposed to be great. Kind of once you try you're not coming back to the normal one.
 
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Don’t forget Chris Packham is a full time pro and one of his income streams is recommending products.
Nothing wrong with this but he may have a financial bias here.
 
Don’t forget Chris Packham is a full time pro and one of his income streams is recommending products.
Nothing wrong with this but he may have a financial bias here.

I was aware of that, but it wan't until I'd seen his video on FB that I realised that bins could have OIS.....
 
I have Canon 10x42L, you can buy them new now for about a grand, secondhand six or seven hundred quid, how good are they, well once you use IS bins you will struggle to go back to conventional binoculars, no matter how steady your hand the IS is effectively like using a tripod, I'd love to know how much better the new gen IS bins are but the 42L's are incredible, IQ is also outstanding, I use them for macro observation (insects) right through to star gazing, the 42L are also fully waterproof unlike the rest of the range. Weight is on the heavy side as is bulk and the 42L's are not the most comfortable around, large 4.2mm exit pupil means they are fantastic in low light also, they are so good it's like looking at life in high definition! All who have tried mine have been blown away by them, the biggest downside is the price and they do like a battery or two. Buy a pair, you won't regret it.

Oh, and I'm not sponsored by Canon ;) but I flipping well should be! :D
 
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I have Canon 10x42L, you can buy them new now for about a grand, secondhand six or seven hundred quid, how good are they, well once you use IS bins you will struggle to go back to conventional binoculars, no matter how steady your hand the IS is effectively like using a tripod, I'd love to know how much better the new gen IS bins are but the 42L's are incredible, IQ is also outstanding, I use them for macro observation (insects) right through to star gazing, the 42L are also fully waterproof unlike the rest of the range. Weight is on the heavy side as is bulk and the 42L's are not the most comfortable around, large 4.2mm exit pupil means they are fantastic in low light also, they are so good it's like looking at life in high definition! All who have tried mine have been blown away by them, the biggest downside is the price and they do like a battery or two. Buy a pair, you won't regret it.

Oh, and I'm not sponsored by Canon ;) but I flipping well should be! :D

Wish I hadn't read that. I was perfectly happy with my old bins five minutes ago. But it's true, once you've tried them... 10x42 sounds perfect... could be expensive :eek: (y)
 
7-8 using rechargeables?

Dad almost bought a pair of the Canons about 10 years ago but decided to go for a bleedin' huge telescope thing with two eyepieces mounted on a tripod. Shame the QR plate that came with the thing was Chinese s*** metal but luckily I had a spare Manfrotto RC2 type plate (on which the Chinese copy was based) so could replace it instantly (even luckier was that I was holding the scope while Dad tightened the clamp, otherwise the whole shebang would have succumbed to gravity...)

I quite often use a superzoom bridge camera as a scope - not perfect but the VR makes a 2000mm lens (35mm equivalent)(? ~40x magnification) handholdable. My more usual bins are a pair of Nikon 8-20x zoom pocket ones. Not ideal for "serious" use but plenty good enough for what we need!
 
Battery lasts 9 hours? :eek:

Its not that bad when you consider the time you actually spend with them to your eye, I think after 9 hours straight of the 10x42's I'd need a recharge too!

Don't forget you don't have to use the IS, the option is always there, that said at least if the batteries do expire you can still use them as is, but you won't want to miss out on IS.

I find them invaluable for spotting subject matter, a good pair of bins out and about open up a whole new view on wildlife as I am sure many will know.

If I did not have the 42L's I'd have a pair of these:-

https://www.wexphotovideo.com/swarovski-el-fieldpro-85x42-swarovision-binoculars-green-1578234/

BUT I just CAN NOT give up the image stabilization!!!
 
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I have a pair of 8x30 IS Canon bin's, I find them invaluable I had given up using standard ones a long time ago because I was unable to hold them steady, tried these and was astonished at how good they are.
 
Having owned the 10x42L I have to agree. I would never buy a non-IS set of binoculars again. The battery life is not an issue. They seem to last forever. Get some Eneloops, no issues. Two hours of so of actual viewing time is much more than you might realise.

Even using them on a tripod has real benefits. You do not realise how much you shake your tripod when moving it etc.
 
I have the Canon 10 x 30 IS II and although you might say that image stabilisation is not necessary on 10 x 30, being able to so easily press the IS button while viewing through them really demonstrates what a great benefit IS offers.

What's not to like about them!?

My purchase of them was not inspired by Chris Packham!
 
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