This isn't an expert's review. I might not respond to any comments very quickly: I have to ration screen time because of a dry eye condition, Meibomian gland dysfunction.
I'm housebound, except for visits 3 or 4 times a year to South Norwood Country Park with my able-bodied brother. It can produce good birds on occasion: years ago I got Great Grey Shrike and Marsh Warbler there. I now use a 4 wheeled walker to get around. Twitching days are over, no more round trips of 500 miles or more for rarities, no more regular local patch even. But life goes on! I can see birds from my 3rd storey flat, which has a view stretching to the distant horizon. Among the most impressive have been Common Buzzard and Red Kite (seen before this latest purchase, pics in Gallery).
Gave my old scope to friends, as lugging a heavy Manfrotto tripod while disabled was just not on and it's not usable at home. But some extra reach was tempting and I splashed out on the All Weather 18x50s.
Haven't had a chance to use them much yet, bought them only 3 weeks before I went into hospital for a month. But I'm impressed.
Heavy of course, 1.2kg, but how could it be otherwise?
The IS is remarkable. I get a steadier image than with any other bin, including my Conquest 8x32 HDs. Apparently earlier versions showed irritating artifacts in IS mode, but I can see none with these.
Mag of 18 doesn't compare with my old scope obviously, but the Canons have significantly more reach than 8x or 10x bins, and you can see more detail because of the steadiness of the image. I have the Swaro 10x42 SVs: nice to own! But now I just can't hold them still enough.
Focusing is very smooth, much better than the Swaros and maybe even a touch better than the Conquests. Which is good because depth of field is very shallow, and constant refocusing is necessary.
They're ugly to look at! A block which hardly resembles a binocular except for the eyepieces sticking out. Fingers don't go to the focusing wheel automatically, as with my other bins. But we're talking compromises.
Optically very good. With top quality bins, I can't say one is sharper than another. They all seem equally good at this level.
The very first thing I noticed looking through the Canons was colour fringing on a the edge of a distant backlight roof. If you look for it, there's a fair bit of CA. Mind you, when I picked up the Swaros and looked at the same roof, sure enough there was colour fringing, albeit less. I can even just about detect it with the 8x32s. Right now I forget CA when I look through the new bins and it's no problem. I suspect that increased CA is inevitable with bins of this spec.
Note: I'm using "colour fringing" and "CA" as if they were synonymous. I don't want to get into elaborate distinctions here.
Two lithium AA size batteries are giving prolonged usage at the moment, though they're expensive. After research, I bought a Maha Smart Pulse charger and Panasonic eneloop rechargeable AA batteries. When the lithiums give out, it'll be rechargeables.
My eyes do tire quickly when using these, though that will be largely down to my MGD eye problem.
With any device, it's moveable parts, including switches and buttons, which tend to pack up first. I hope the image stabilizer button on these bins will last many years and at age 69, maybe "see me out"!
All told, I agree with the excellent review by Scopeviews. Can't see the writer's name but I think it's Roger Vine. My review reads largely like his!
These bins are useful in special circumstances like mine. I doubt though that many people with good mobility will want to lug them about in the field. There's astronomy of course, and I did get some impressive views on the one occasion I tried them at night.
Cheers
I'm housebound, except for visits 3 or 4 times a year to South Norwood Country Park with my able-bodied brother. It can produce good birds on occasion: years ago I got Great Grey Shrike and Marsh Warbler there. I now use a 4 wheeled walker to get around. Twitching days are over, no more round trips of 500 miles or more for rarities, no more regular local patch even. But life goes on! I can see birds from my 3rd storey flat, which has a view stretching to the distant horizon. Among the most impressive have been Common Buzzard and Red Kite (seen before this latest purchase, pics in Gallery).
Gave my old scope to friends, as lugging a heavy Manfrotto tripod while disabled was just not on and it's not usable at home. But some extra reach was tempting and I splashed out on the All Weather 18x50s.
Haven't had a chance to use them much yet, bought them only 3 weeks before I went into hospital for a month. But I'm impressed.
Heavy of course, 1.2kg, but how could it be otherwise?
The IS is remarkable. I get a steadier image than with any other bin, including my Conquest 8x32 HDs. Apparently earlier versions showed irritating artifacts in IS mode, but I can see none with these.
Mag of 18 doesn't compare with my old scope obviously, but the Canons have significantly more reach than 8x or 10x bins, and you can see more detail because of the steadiness of the image. I have the Swaro 10x42 SVs: nice to own! But now I just can't hold them still enough.
Focusing is very smooth, much better than the Swaros and maybe even a touch better than the Conquests. Which is good because depth of field is very shallow, and constant refocusing is necessary.
They're ugly to look at! A block which hardly resembles a binocular except for the eyepieces sticking out. Fingers don't go to the focusing wheel automatically, as with my other bins. But we're talking compromises.
Optically very good. With top quality bins, I can't say one is sharper than another. They all seem equally good at this level.
The very first thing I noticed looking through the Canons was colour fringing on a the edge of a distant backlight roof. If you look for it, there's a fair bit of CA. Mind you, when I picked up the Swaros and looked at the same roof, sure enough there was colour fringing, albeit less. I can even just about detect it with the 8x32s. Right now I forget CA when I look through the new bins and it's no problem. I suspect that increased CA is inevitable with bins of this spec.
Note: I'm using "colour fringing" and "CA" as if they were synonymous. I don't want to get into elaborate distinctions here.
Two lithium AA size batteries are giving prolonged usage at the moment, though they're expensive. After research, I bought a Maha Smart Pulse charger and Panasonic eneloop rechargeable AA batteries. When the lithiums give out, it'll be rechargeables.
My eyes do tire quickly when using these, though that will be largely down to my MGD eye problem.
With any device, it's moveable parts, including switches and buttons, which tend to pack up first. I hope the image stabilizer button on these bins will last many years and at age 69, maybe "see me out"!
All told, I agree with the excellent review by Scopeviews. Can't see the writer's name but I think it's Roger Vine. My review reads largely like his!
These bins are useful in special circumstances like mine. I doubt though that many people with good mobility will want to lug them about in the field. There's astronomy of course, and I did get some impressive views on the one occasion I tried them at night.
Cheers
