The new Fujinon's are optically better than any of the Canon's including the Canon 10x42 IS-L and the Canon 18x50 IS because Fujinon uses solid glass shifting prisms and Canon uses fluid-filled wet bag prisms which cause the Canon's image to soften when you use the IS, whereas, the Fujinons stay sharp. It is very easy to see when you compare them side by side. The Fujinon IS also stabilizes better than the Canon reducing jitters and big shakes to a greater degree so you get a more rock solid view when hand held. The Fujinon has less CA than any of the regular Canons and is about on par with the Canon 10x42 IS-L which uses ED glass to control CA so the Fujinons control CA very well. The Canon 10x42 IS-L has a bigger FOV than the Fujinon but when the IS is on the Fujinon is sharper and you really notice it when you say are trying to read a sign from a great distance. Ken Rockwell explains a lot of this below but I observed the same thing.
"I found that the Canons get softer when their IS is ON. Even though much less sharp than Leicas or good Nikon's, the Canons allowed me to read handwriting 75 feet (25 m) away because of their stabilized image. Other binoculars impressed me with their sharpness, but since their images wiggle even in my rock-steady grip, I couldn't actually read the fine details. These Fujinons impressed me because they have stabilization as well as the sharpness of the other high-end non-stabilized binoculars. They are the best of both worlds. They don't get softer with stabilization ON. These Fujinons use solid-glass shifting prisms to stabilize the image. Canon uses mushy fluid-filled wet-bag prisms, which is why I suspect the Canons get softer with IS active. With IS, the Canons often have a constant dithering of the edges; artifacts of the interaction of the IS system with the motions it's attempting to counter. The Fujinons have none of these problems and lock down a sharp, rock-stable image. The Canons fade in and out of sharpness. I'd rather a Canon IS over Leica for utility (Leica still wins at mechanical build quality), and I bought (whoops, asked Santa to get me) these Fujinons because of their greater sharpness and contrast over the Canons. Other folks have emailed me that they prefer the Canons, and I'm a little confused at that. I've never seen these Fujinons at retail. I only saw them at an industry trade show where I also was able to compare them directly to the Canons and Leicas and Nikons and everything else. The differences are obvious and repeatable. The Canons get soft with the IS on; they are OK with it off, but who cares how sharp they are with IS off? With further questioning of these Internet reports it seems none of them had ever actually seen these Fujinons. I only saw them at a huge industry trade show where every vendor brought everything in their catalogs. You may be able to find the Nikon Stabileyes, which seem identical, at retail for comparison against the Canons. I tried the Canons again (18x50). The Canons are sharp with the IS off, but turning IS on softens the image as the mush-prisms do their work. The stabilized images softly fade in and out of sharpness as Canon's wet bag prisms wiggle around. The Fujinons use solid glass prisms in rotating gimbals, so no quality is lost as they deflect to counter motion. The Fujinons are as sharp with IS on or off; their prisms always have parallel sides. The Canons' wet bags are deflected from parallel (made trapezoidal) to counter motion as it happens. Look for yourself: the Canons fade in and out of sharpness; it's not your imagination. The Fujinons stay sharp. Who cares how sharp they are with IS off? I bought these to use with IS ON."
https://www.kenrockwell.com/fuji/fujinon-14x40.htm
