Canon IS II Image Stabilizing Binos [Archive]

ShawnM

12-27-2012, 08:56 AM

So I picked up a pair of these binos online and had them delivered Christmas eve :) Just in time!

The first thing I noticed about these $700 binos is that they come with next to nothing. A soft nylon case, a couple of very plastic eye cup covers, nothing for the objective lenses.

They are very light, but I'm used to trucking around a pair of 10x50's so they may be actually more in the range for binos of similar magnifications. The outside is a soft rubberized coating that will scar or cut with even the most casual of contact with metal or hard surfaces with any kind of edge. Threading through the bino strap, which incidently is absolutley the worst bino strap I have ever seen, was difficult because the mounts are almost touching the eye cups. I immediately threw out the bino strap and switched to a Canon camera strap I had lying around. The supplied one would have sawed through my neck after a day of packing them around. The eye cups themselves are made of that hard but slightly flexible plastic that eventually turns hard and breaks.

The overall feel of the binos is one of slight fragility. I wouldn't feel very comfortable about taking them on a mountain hunt unless they were strapped to my chest at all times. Even then I would give them a 50/50 chance of becoming damaged. After carrying around my Vortex binos that survived a 110km/h to zero motorcycle crash with me they just don't feel all that tough. Maybe I'm spoiled, those Vortex binos have been to hell and back with me by now and are just as good as the day I unwrapped them. But the thought of IS binos was too good to pass up.

After stuffing the binos with some fresh batteries and letting them sit outside for 20 minutes or so I went out to test them on the only astronomical object that was visible during the foggy, cloudy evenings we've been having. After adjusting the eyepieces to my face, the diopter, and focusing in on the moon I thought to myself: OK there's the moon. Not as close as my other bino brings it but it's a pretty sharp picture. Not bad. I lower them from my face to find the button to turn on the IS and hit it and raise the binos again, no improvement on the steadiness of the image. WTF? After my dozey brain clues in that you can't press and release the button and that you have to hold it to keep the IS on (Something I really don't like about it) I bring them up to my face and suddenly the moon is more visually crisp than I have ever seen it in my life. Standing in my back yard, in the city, on a mostly cloudy night, hand holding the binos while standing the moon is so crisp and sharp I can easily make out surface features. OK I won't go on with that but I was extremely impressed at how the IS and the quality of the optics brought the moon, jupiter, star fields etc. into sharp detail. Better than any telescope I've used and certainly better than any bino's I've used before.

The farther away you're looking the more you'll get out of them. Up close (under 200yards) they really don't improve much over a normal pair of binos. But if you're checking something out 500+ yards away the advantages of these binos will become obvious immediately. The IS does an incredible job of smoothing out your field of vision and lets you watch MUCH longer without getting eye fatigue or neck strain from trying to stabilize a jumpy image.

Overall I'd say with these particular binoculars you are paying probably $60ish for the quality of the build. They feel like cheap binos to me and the supplied accessories are useless, they may as well not even have bothered. However!! You are paying the other $640 for the optics and the IS and I have to say that they are worth that much at least. The optics are razor sharp and clear with excellent coatings. A little distortion around the edges for the picky people but I'd still put the optics in the top 25% for binos. The IS is quite simply the best feature I've EVER seen for binos. The IS feature makes up for the fact that the objective is a mere 36mm and that the overall feel of the binos is somewhat plasticy and cheap. I'm sure if I hadn't bought the mid-range pair and sprung for the $1500ish models all that would disappear and I'd be 100% happy with them. With the IS feature I'd put the Canon bino's as equal to if not better than the $2000+ Swaros or Leica binos I've used. No the image isn't as sharp but the IS definitely lets you see it more clearly than hand holding a normal pair.

If you're considering a pair of high-end bino's I'd have a really good look at the Canon IS pairs. The 15x50's and especially the 10x42 IS versions would give all the magnification and build quality expected from binos in that range.

The 12x36's are nice. REALLY nice... I love them and I've only used them for looking at the stars in the city and occasionally towards downtown etc. I can't wait to get them into the mountains this weekend and see what I can see out there! Would I recommend them against a different $700ish pair of binos from Vortex, Leupold, Burris etc? Well yes, as long as you treat them like a delicate optical instrument instead of a boat anchor, they should give you years of viewing pleasure. If you need a pair that can sit at the bottom of your pack while hiking across a rocky mountain scape occassionally wading through water and carelessly shrugging out of your pack and letting it crash to the ground; then don't buy these. Get a pair of Vortex Diamondbacks or some other such model. But if you can afford a pair of Diamondbacks AND these then definitely get them :) You'll be AMAZED at what you weren't seeing before.