Image stabilized binoculars, Canon vs Nikon

[John12048]

I am looking at both Canon and Nikon image stabilized binoculars for the boat. Does anyone out there have any experience and/or preference for one manufacture or the other? Is image stabilization more for hand shake as oppose to boat roll? My concern is a pair of binoculars with a relatively high magnification(15X) and the associated narrow field of view. But then again, I also like the idea of seeing more distant objects. Fially, do these 40 and 50 millimeter objectives effective in dim lighting? Thanks in advance...

 

[rsn48]

Image stabilization, power, and the great universe

My first comment is on the power of binocs you want to use. Generally going much above 8 power is a pain, for one good reason - the shakes. But also you don't really need 15 power. Most professional mariners use the traditional 7 by 50 for very good reason; one, the power is sufficient - but two, more importantly at dusk and dawn, the light gathering abilities of these binocs is very good. A general rule of thumb is if a "birder" (bird watcher) is interested in a particular binoc, you know it has good imaging in low light - when most birds are visible, dawn and dusk. Birders love our marine 7 by 50 binocs.I haven't used image stabilization in binocs but I have a couple of Canon lens for my digital camera that do have IS. IS is only for the shakes, not a boat rolling. A boat rolling will be even more of a pain with 15 power specs because it will magnify the problem.Another general rule of thumb is that if you find most of the professional planet using one particular instrument (7 by 50's in this case), you are best to stick with the crowd; there's usually a good reason for this.Have a Merry Christmas

 

[Peter]

Canon IS

I bought a Canon IS 10 power (30MM lens I think?) about a year ago. It works pretty well, steadies out motion (both boat and handshake) OK. Note I'm not using extemely gushing descriptions, however. It's not perfect, but was a lot cheaper than the Nikon or Fuji ones, and pretty good a making numbers and writing visible. I use it mostly for discerning buoy numbers and sail numbers on boats that I'm racing against, so relatively close quarters viewing (1/2 mile to 1 mile), where light gathering isn't a problem. I like the 50% higher magnification than my 7x50's for reading those small numbers, although I use the 7x50's more often for general use.

 

[rick46]

These articles may help

There were two articles in Good Old Boat about binoculars - May/June and July/August, 2005 - one of them (I don't remember which one) was very informative. The author (perhaps even both authors) recommends the 7x50's, especially if you will own only one pair. He also points out that 7x50 is the standard US Navy binocular, for exactly the reasons stated by Peter and rsn48.I use 7x50's. Occasionally I want greater magnification, but I can spot a buoy at dusk when more powerful glasses would leave me blind.