Purchase Price :- £699 Including UK VAT See dealer below
Manufacturers Recommended Retail Price :- £1100 Including UK VAT

Features:-
High magnification of 18x
Large diameter 50mm objective lens for a bright field-of-view
Wide field-of-view of 67°
Long eye-relief of 15mm
Image stabilizer
UD element reducing chromatic lens aberrations
Suitable for use in all weather conditions

Magnification (x) 18
Objective Diameter (mm) 50
Exit Pupil (mm) 2.8
Real Field of View 3.7°
Apparent Field of View 67° Wide
Field of View at 1000 m 65
Closest Focussing Distance (m) +/- 6
Eye Relief (mm) 15
Prism Porro Prism II
Objective Lens (G2-G4) Movement Yes
Eyepiece Lens Movement No
Objective Lens Movement No
Image Stabilizer Yes
Field Flattener Lens Double Field Flattener
Aspherical Lens No
UD Lens Yes
Power Source - Two size AA batteries Yes
Rubber Coating All Weather - Usable in heavy rain
Water Resistance Yes
Super Spectra Multicoating Yes
Weight (excl. batteries) 1,200 g
Width (mm) 152
Height (mm) 193
Depth (mm) 81

Well where do I start with these?

Most people have at some stage in their lives had the chance to look through a pair of binoculars. Well at first sight these look like an ordinary (if somewhat large) pair of binoculars. On first holding them up to you eyes they also magnify like normal binos and at 18 times magnification would normally have to rested against something or mounted on a tripod. This is because 18 times magnification hand held is normally unusable because of hand shake. This ruins the view by making everything blurred and difficult to focus on.

But not to worry THESE binos are different. They have a 'Magic Button' , pressing it causes some electronics to activate inside the binoculars and as if by magic the image becomes rock steady.

They are Fantastic!!

I bought them to fuel my need for a better pair of binoculars or a telescope to use for astronomy along with daytime use for model and full-size airshows.

I want to learn about the sky and most of the astronomy books recommend starting with a pair of binoculars. I was using my existing Swift 10x42 and while these gave good results, I was frustrated that I could not keep them still to get nice clean star images

These Canon 18x50 IS binoculars have exceeded all of my expectations. The night sky through them is simply stunning.

By some sort of miracle I actually had a perfectly clear sky to try them on the first night!
Well compared to my existing Swift 10x42 the difference is another world.

The 18x50’s show more detail in the sky that I have ever seen before. They are pin sharp from almost edge-to-edge. I could see both sets of the double stars on Lyra without any problem. M13 in Hercules was also very visible as a grey blob. I also saw the coat hanger cluster for the first time. That was probably due to my use of the star charts (In Nightwatch) and my planesphere.

I wear spectacles and they work OK with the eye relief on the binoculars if you fold the eyecups back as normal. The Binoculars are more comfortable without my specs and give a greater feel of immersion in the sky. Although this makes looking up for location more difficult as I have to put my specs back on! I have yet to try with my contact lenses, that could be the best solution.

The binos are very very well made with a thick rubberised coating over all of the body. They are classed as weather proof and can be used in the rain. I’ll let someone else prove this!

They run from two AA batteries that are inserted into the underside of the body next to the tripod mounting point. Although I probably won’t use the tripod attachment it could be useful for star parties when you have a location set in the sky.

The battery compartment door is hinged on one side and cannot be detached from the body (a good thing on dark nights) it has to be opened with the use of a coin (another good thing, providing you have a coin :-) ) There is some polarity protection built into the plastic fins on the battery door. But it still pays to be careful these are after all not a £2 battery powered toy.

Battery life is quoted at 2.5 hours for standard alkaline AA’s I have some 2300 mAh NiMh I will try with it when I flatten the ones that came with the binos. You can also use Lithium AA (If your wallet is large enough) and they give quoted life of over 8 hours in normal temperatures.

Operation is simple just press the button on the top right hand side and a small green LED illuminates and a slight ‘Clunk’ sound is followed by a rock steady image. The effect really does amaze me. The image seems to glide when you move the binos to a different sky position. I could track moving satellites without any problem. The stabiliser will stay on for 5 minutes or until you press the button again. Pressing and holding the button causes the stabilisation to work only while you are holding it down. Good for quick look at things.

Focusing is smooth with a large focus knob. It is very sensitive though and does not take much movement to go from ultra sharp to fuzzy. This is good for daytime use as I can refocus without moving the knob by large amounts.

The binos are a lot heavier that my previous 10x42’s although I don’t find them too heavy. With my old binos the weight of holding my arms up seems to be the thing that limits how long you can maintain your viewing. If I sit in my deck chair then viewing for several minutes is no problem.

They come with a drawstring pouch and plastic lens caps for the eyepieces. There are no caps for the 50mm objective lenses though. The base of the pouch has some light foam padding that I think is supposed to protect these. I think I may invest in a better hard case for them. Especially if I travel with them. Pelican make some nice waterproof cases, I will look there.

All the Lenses are coated with what Canon call Supa Spectra Coatings. These improve light transmission through the glass thus making the image brighter with higher contrast. It shows up as a purple tint when you turn the lens to the light at a certain angle.

The objective lenses are also threaded, this will allow me to fit some special solar filters that would allow SAFE viewing of the Sun with the binoculars. These special filters are designed to cut out about 98% of visible light and other harmful UV and IR radiation.

DO NOT EVER VIEW THE SUN WITHOUT SPECIAL FILTERS FITTED AS YOU WILL CAUSE PERMANENT BLINDNESS IN A FRACTION OF A SECOND.

How does this clever Image Stabilization work?

I did a search for this as I thought that someone would have already described it in better detail.

So this description is from Canons own with a few of my own thoughts added on. I am welcome for suggestions from someone who knows more!

The Stabililazation system used in these Binoculars is the Vari Angle Prism Type.

"Two sensors detect horizontal and vertical shaking respectively. The two Vari-Angle Prisms in both the left and right telescopes are controlled by a microprocessor to instantly adjust refraction angle of the incoming light. This system is used in Canons IS Binoculars."

There are other systems available, one uses a Gyroscope that takes 1 minute to get up to speed and a the other is a mechanical system that needs no batteries. But each of those systems cannot distinguish a panning movement and tries to correct for it. The Canon system can detect panning and keeps the image stable.

I think the sensors used in the Canon Binoculars will be solid state gyro units. These consist of a triangular Piezoelectric rod that when deflected by the 'G force' of your moving hand will give a very small current change that is used as feedback into the electronics. Two sensors will be fitted one for horizontal movements and one for vertical.

The Vari angle prisms are unusual as they are filled with liquid. This makes sense as it would be hard to change the shape of a solid prism! The clue to this is given in the manual that states that bubbles may form in the lens system if they are used on a pressured aircraft. They will disappear after a few days at normal pressure. I assume that the Prisms are deformed with some form of servo system, possibly a fully electromagnetic one as I cannot hear any cogs wizzing round!

I wonder if future development will lead to image stabilized binos with automatic focus? As this technology is already available in Canons EF lenses for SLR cameras. What a great age of technology we live in!

Manufacturer:- www.canon.com

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