Canon 15x50 IS as one high mag. bino ? (1 Viewer)

Hello,
Has anyone used the Canon IS 15x50 binocular as a high magnification binocular for medium and long distance? How about for raptor in flight?
A good binocular for these purposes? good optics and mechanics?
Thank you
Wachi.

No personal experience other than with the 10x42 ISL, but a birding friend here in NYC used the 15x50 IS for routine birding and was quite happy with it.
She was especially pleased with the performance observing gulls and ducks on the Central Park reservoir, a roughly circular water about a half mile across. I do not know whether she was active on hawk watches.

My only experience is with the 14x32--possibly not relevant, but I'll share anyway.

For the 14x32, raptor viewing at focus distance of infinity is fantastic. Anything less that requires focus adjustments makes for a cumbersome chore that would probably result in a better experience with a standard 8x42. Keep in mind that infinity focus of a 14x or 15x is quite a bit further than with a 8x.

I'd love to try the 50mm Canons, but my narrow IPD won't allow it.

I used the 15x50 IS for several years as my primary birding binocular. There was a lot of medium-long distance raptor migration watching involved in that. It worked very well, and regularly allowed me to spot and identify raptors at distances fellow birders using 8x-10x binoculars would need their scopes to either find or identify them. A good scope, of course, would have a much greater reach still.

More critical focus is an issue when going quickly from near to far, but can be overcome with some tricks.

1) I put an "O-ring" between the focus knob and the binocular body to prevent focus creep when the binoculars are hanging down. That was because the focus action is light enough that the objective lens system, which moves when focusing, would creep slightly outwards, towards near focus, while the binoculars hang on your chest. The O-ring is easy to pull off if and when you want lighter focus for forest birding.

2) Index the focus wheel with a marking that shows when there is infinity focus for your eyes.

3) Focus on some terrestrial target at the distance you expect the flying raptors to be at before you begin scanning the skies.

4) Use Eneloop X rechargeable batteries, and charge them often. They will work for a lot of hours of consecutive IS-assisted birding, but it is nice to know they are not going to run out on you and the IS works a bit better when the power source has good current capacity.

5) Get a selfie stick and attach it to the convenient tripod thread under the binocular. This takes a lot of the strain off your arms and shoulders, and makes long periods of scanning the skies easy and comfortable.

I eventually sold the 15x50 and replaced it with the 10x42 L IS, which has better image quality and a more convenient all-round magnification/FOV/DOF combination, but the 15x50 definitely showed significantly more in distant raptors - or any distant birds for that matter.

- Kimmo

Hi, the stabilization is much better on my 14x32 vs the 15x50. My 15x50 is older, maybe from 2008.
Also. the weight difference between the two is significant. I like the 14x32 much better than the 15x50.

Hola Wachi,
I had the 15x50 for a few years. I used it for seawatching, to occasionally relieve the strain of one-eyed scoping. It's very very good, but I sold it. Recently I have bought a Canon IS 10x42. I had one many years ago and sold it, but I have been re-converted, and should have listened to Kimmo many years ago...nothing, absolutely nothing I have owned delivers views like the 10x42. For distant viewing of hawks, waders etc., the combination of L-series glass and IS mean no hand-held bino comes close. The 15x50 has more CA and a softer image, not as good in terms of colour rendition. But still very good (although not waterproof).