The more I use the 12x32s, the more impressed I am with them. I went birding in a local wetland shortly after sunrise on a cloudy day. The light was flat and grey and fairly dim. The 12x32s performed just fine. They obviously aren't the best low light bins around but they were not a problem.
I took them on an Audubon field trip. We saw a light colored blob on a powerline so far away that you couldn't identify it as a bird with the naked eye. Even at 12x, the bird was very small but I could clearly see enough detail to identify it as a Kestral. I was really impressed by how much detail I could see in such a tiny image. The IS makes a huge difference in situations like this.
I have the 14x32s now also. I looked at a distant sign with difference sizes of text on it that I use for setting diopters. I could see the smallest text more clearly with the 14x than with the 12x but the difference wasn't huge. I used the 14's for looking at boats, pelicans and osprey in flight both at high altitude and fairly low and waders pretty close up. They worked great for all of them.
I rationalized buying the 14x32 with the idea that I would compare them to the 12x32 and return one. I have definitely decide to keep the 12x32. The question now is whether to return the 14x32 or keep them both. The bird on the powerline has convinced me that the 12's are adequate for the tasks that I wanted them for. I just need to decide if the 14's are enough different to justify the expense of having both. I am leaving in the morning on a two day birding trip and I'll be taking both. Hopefully, I'll have enough opportunities to make a decision.
I see the 12x32 as the best solution if you want to take just one binocular on an outing when you expect most birds to be at a distance. The 14x32 would be good for a two bin solution where you are going to wear an 8x or 10x around your neck and carry the 14x in a shoulder or waist bag as a spotting scope substitute. You could, of course, do that with the 12x32 as well.
I originally decided on the 12x32 because I was hoping that Canon would come out with another series that has 50 or 56mm objectives. The three bins in the current series are physically identical except for the optics. I assume that they did this to minimize the cost of designing and manufacturing them. It would be great if they did the same with 50/56mm bins with 12x, 15x and 20x. If so, I'd like to have the 12x32 and either 15x50/56 or 20x50/56 with the AFOV of the current 15x50. There is no telling if they will do this though. So maybe I should keep the 14x32. I can always sell something else. Or maybe just eat one meal a day for a few months.
I took them on an Audubon field trip. We saw a light colored blob on a powerline so far away that you couldn't identify it as a bird with the naked eye. Even at 12x, the bird was very small but I could clearly see enough detail to identify it as a Kestral. I was really impressed by how much detail I could see in such a tiny image. The IS makes a huge difference in situations like this.
I have the 14x32s now also. I looked at a distant sign with difference sizes of text on it that I use for setting diopters. I could see the smallest text more clearly with the 14x than with the 12x but the difference wasn't huge. I used the 14's for looking at boats, pelicans and osprey in flight both at high altitude and fairly low and waders pretty close up. They worked great for all of them.
I rationalized buying the 14x32 with the idea that I would compare them to the 12x32 and return one. I have definitely decide to keep the 12x32. The question now is whether to return the 14x32 or keep them both. The bird on the powerline has convinced me that the 12's are adequate for the tasks that I wanted them for. I just need to decide if the 14's are enough different to justify the expense of having both. I am leaving in the morning on a two day birding trip and I'll be taking both. Hopefully, I'll have enough opportunities to make a decision.
I see the 12x32 as the best solution if you want to take just one binocular on an outing when you expect most birds to be at a distance. The 14x32 would be good for a two bin solution where you are going to wear an 8x or 10x around your neck and carry the 14x in a shoulder or waist bag as a spotting scope substitute. You could, of course, do that with the 12x32 as well.
I originally decided on the 12x32 because I was hoping that Canon would come out with another series that has 50 or 56mm objectives. The three bins in the current series are physically identical except for the optics. I assume that they did this to minimize the cost of designing and manufacturing them. It would be great if they did the same with 50/56mm bins with 12x, 15x and 20x. If so, I'd like to have the 12x32 and either 15x50/56 or 20x50/56 with the AFOV of the current 15x50. There is no telling if they will do this though. So maybe I should keep the 14x32. I can always sell something else. Or maybe just eat one meal a day for a few months.