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stupid question about a Canon 18x50 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter spatter
- Start date
KorHaan
Well-known member
Ah! The 18x50's!
I'm looking for those to complement my 10x30's IS Canons which I bought last month. I've been able to try the 18x50's next to the 15x50's last year, and I would say that in good daylight you see more detail with the 18's.
As a third contestor I had the Swarovski 15x56 SLC's at hand. These outperformed the Canon 15x50's in sharpness, even handheld, though the IS factor of the Canons gave me a somewhat steadier image. But not much more steady than the Swaro's due to the exceptionally good balance of the latter.
The 18x50's on the other hand were clearly better than the Swaro's 15x56, to my eyes anyway, with excellent detail recognition of tree leaves some 100 meters away. Surprisingly bright for a 2.8 mm exit pupil, good AFOV too.
Maybe the Canon 15x50 IS's were a lemon, and the 18x50 IS's a cherry specimen. The weight and feel of both is identical.
I am looking forward trying these two out again, probably next month, the
18x50's being my favourite of the two. I wear glasses and had no trouble lining up my pupils with the exit pupils of the bins.
I could not tell if there are two versions of the 18x50's. Possibly some of the experts here on BF could tell you more.
I must say that the Image Stabilization has really caught me, my Canon
10x30 IS's are now the only ones I use, and with great joy I may add.
Pity I bought Minox 8x32 BL's eight months ago, I have no use for them at the moment other than loaner bins for visitors.
Best regards,
Ronald
well i guess i don't have mine yet to confirm how they are, but i do have a loaner 15x50 here that i'll be able to compare with, it'll be really interesting to see how the compare, i'll know by tomorrow,
but i'm wondering if there ever was a change on the 18x50 or if theres just one kind and no changes throughout the whole model,
but i'm wondering if there ever was a change on the 18x50 or if theres just one kind and no changes throughout the whole model,
There's been just one kind of both the 15x50 and the 18x50. However, the lens coatings have changed along the way, and transmission in the more recent models is better than in the earliest ones. I have no specific information on this, but I used to have an early (year 2000) 15x50, and when I helped a friend to buy the same model in ca 2006, the new unit had a different color reflection to the coatings and visibly better light transmission (brighter image and slightly better contrast) when we compared the two side-by-side. Likewise, there has been a subtle change in the coatings of the eyepiece assembly of the 10x42 IS L since its introduction.
Kimmo
Kimmo
