• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

10X42L IS Pros/cons... (3 Viewers)

IS issues...possible fix

I haven’t read through this thread but thought I’d mention this here in case anybody else has an issue with the IS.

I’ve previously mentioned (somewhere) some issues I’ve had with the IS on this otherwise incredible instrument before. Well, my IS has started to go off again. Optical nirvana when disengaged, but then a slight blur when engaging it.

I’ve tried storing them in different positions and I use lithium batteries etc etc. I’m certainly not sending these old things back for expensive repair.

But, I discovered an instant fix for my canons anyway. View using the IS with the binocular turned upside down. Simple as that. The Canon’s instant and ruthlessly stabilised resolution is once again restored. These plastic bricks are such an ugly ergonomic monstrosity that inverting them makes virtually no difference to the ergonomy, with thumb used for focus instead of forefinger. It’s working like perfection for now.

Cheers,

Rathaus
 
Well, this is only natural as you live in Australia and they were built in the northern hemisphere. :)

P.S.
Seriously, this is very useful information.
My fix was one hour's continuous electricity through the binocular, but any other fixes for wayward Canon IS behaviour are most welcome.
 
Last edited:
Binastro said:
Well, this is only natural as you live in Australia and they were built in the northern hemisphere. :)

P.S.
Seriously, this is very useful information.
My fix was one hour's continuous electricity through the binocular, but any other fixes for wayward Canon IS behaviour are most welcome.
Click to expand...

The upside down Aussie thing did occur to me as well :-O

Binastro,

How did you go about the one hour of continuous electricity? Did you use the normal battery supply with lithiums in it? Did you hold that button down....or keep the button depressed the with electrical tape and something etc? Did you keep them in horizontal viewing position as you zapped them?

Cheers for this,

Rathaus
 
Rathaus,
I can't remember if lithiums or Eneloops White or Black.
I put the binocular on the table horizontally and every five minutes or so I pressed the button again, moving the binocular slightly so it wasn't still the whole hour.

When I got the new binocular the image drifted upwards instead of holding fixed.

I suspect it may have been stored upright in the shop.
Possibly a Hong Kong grey import.
I could have sent it back but tried to get it working myself.

It has worked well, but I never take anything for granted.

I bought a Bausch and Lomb 10x42 P 10x42 old for a low price. The focus would not go close. After months in the warm it works fine now for all distances. strange but it fixed itself.

A Soviet 12x40 became uncollimated. Collimated itself, but now uncollimated again.
I just go with the flow.
 
Thanks for that Binastro man.

I don’t mind some occasional tinkering...I was wondering about opening up the canons and having a good old poke about.
 
dipped said:
Wow that is a good price. 18 sold only 5 left. Could be Curry's clearing their stock?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. I had the listing in my watch list for a while and they were just over a £1000 and 2 did sell at that price. They dropped the price and sold out earlier this month. 14 more appeared on the 20th Oct. Can't imagine they ordered more unless it's Canon themselves doing the cheaper price.

I wonder who e***a is, he bought 4 !

Anyway, mine arrive Friday, I'll report back...
 
Last edited:
Starting to look more and more like a replacement might be on its way. This is easily the lowest price this side of the pond. If there is no replacement, and they just discontinue the 10x42 L IS, I will surely regret not having bought a new one now.

There still isn't anything better around.

Kimmo
 
kabsetz said:
Starting to look more and more like a replacement might be on its way. This is easily the lowest price this side of the pond. If there is no replacement, and they just discontinue the 10x42 L IS, I will surely regret not having bought a new one now.

There still isn't anything better around.

Kimmo
Click to expand...

You beat me to it.
 
maico said:
I don't think so. I had the listing in my watch list for a while and they were just over a £1000 and 2 did sell at that price. They dropped the price and sold out earlier this month. 14 more appeared on the 20th Oct. Can't imagine they ordered more unless it's Canon themselves doing the cheaper price.

I wonder who e***a is, he bought 4 !

Anyway, mine arrive Friday, I'll report back...
Click to expand...

Well, they did arrive today and I put them through my standard testing procedure in my garden on a tripod in sun and shade and they passed with a fine optical performance ! The focus wheel is nice and smooth with no play. They have a field flattener lens and the plane of focus is mainly flat out to the corners not curved.

No sign of them being NOS, the Canon date label code appears to point to a manufacture date of 21/03/2017 with a serial number of 51000091. They clearly have never been out of the box since leaving Japan.

One thing that is old school philosophy is the level of pincushion distortion. Using Allbinos methodology they would score it something like 3 or 4 out of 10. A more recent design like the Monarch HG scored 10/10 with "The distance between the first curved line and the field centre compared to the field of view radius: 92% ± 2%"

The IS is really good, silent and unobtrusive. I'm sure Canon have tweaked it over the years with firmware and electronic upgrades. The copyright date on the manual is 2005.

I notice BH photo have put the price back up to $1300, a pre-tax price more than $500 to what I paid and a 30% hike from their price earlier in the year ! Maybe they and Canon UK were just clearing 2017 overstock.

If there was a new model coming out in 2018 maybe it would have a calcium fluorite crystal element (which has a lower Abbe number than FL glass) for lower aberrations and perhaps slightly better transmission. As a porro design though it doesn't really need it as the standard Canon Ultra low dispersion glass works fine.There is no on axis CA and just a touch at the edge of field (6.5 degrees) Maybe autofocus...and a price hike to $1600 ?

One thing is for sure, despite the fact I have steady hands, I wont be buying a traditional non-IS binocular again with a 10x or higher magnification.
 
Last edited:
Nor would I, I just wanted to know if the documentation was there. A couple of months ago or so I bought a new 12x as sold by Amazon and it lacked the warranty documentation. I assumed that I had been sent a return. Got my money back OK though. Now looking at Microglobe but, despite their assurances I am wary.

I might wait until new 14x bins appear on eBay that have the EWS and the additional warranty. In my experience of Canon, buying from an authorised dealer is no guarantee of quality though.
 
The-Wanderer said:
Nor would I, I just wanted to know if the documentation was there. A couple of months ago or so I bought a new 12x as sold by Amazon and it lacked the warranty documentation. I assumed that I had been sent a return. Got my money back OK though. Now looking at Microglobe but, despite their assurances I am wary.

I might wait until new 14x bins appear on eBay that have the EWS and the additional warranty. In my experience of Canon, buying from an authorised dealer is no guarantee of quality though.
Click to expand...

If your only getting a 1 year warranty I don't think it really matters. If for example the 10x42 had come from outside the EU (and in my experience of buying Nikon lenses on Amazon Warehouse returns and new Nikon binoculars they don't) the statutory warranty is with the vendor. Amazon would need to get Canon to fix it has nobody else will touch them.
They are all box moving exercises at the end of the day. Currys, who I generally avoid using, don't treat someone buying an oven any different to someone buying an expensive Nikon D5. Having said that, I'm amazed they even have those in stock, it's something virtually every pro-photographer surely buys from a specialist dealer.
 
I don't know what "pro" photographers do nowadays but many joined the professional program -I forget it's name - and bought selected top ranked models.
 
The-Wanderer said:
I don't know what "pro" photographers do nowadays but many joined the professional program -I forget it's name - and bought selected top ranked models.
Click to expand...

Canon CPS and Nikon NPS, I'm a member, basically means you can get your gear serviced quickly and get loaners while they do it. Oh, and they send you a glossy magazine showcasing work.
Funnily enough most of my gear is grey import but they don't seem to care.
 
Last edited:
Maico,

Welcome to the "No More Muggle Binoculars" club.

You are right about the pincushion distortion, but this also means no rolling ball while sharp to the edge.

Thanks for sharing the serial number info. You got quite a deal.

Kimmo
 
Warning! This thread is more than 6 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

N
Advice: Not too expensive toss in the pocket/bag compact binoculars?
2 3
Replies
49
Views
6K
julay
J
J
Brief reviews about Zeiss victory SFL 8/10 x40
2 3
Replies
41
Views
5K
Declan Joseph Deasy
D
J
Brief review of Shuntu Panorama ED 10x42
2
Replies
23
Views
2K
jackjack
J
I
Analysis Paralysis- Please help me choose!
2 3
Replies
42
Views
2K
Patudo
P
J
Better understanding the Leica range for a second-hand purchase
Replies
15
Views
1K
jb b
J

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 4 (members: 0, guests: 4)
Back
Top