BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="KorHaan" data-source="post: 1512504" data-attributes="member: 49910">Hi Allan,Maybe some day I will go for the 12x36 IS II as well, but at this moment I couldn't be happier with the 10x30's + 18x50's combination.You're so right that IS is a great invention. With all the improvements in binoculars to make the optics still better, the observer has become the weakest link, as handshake spoils a good deal of the image. People forget about that aspect too easily, or they just don't care, I don't know. But image stabilisation improves the observer, and that is its unique achievement.I knew a guy once who liked to go birding with our group, a nice fellow with a serious handicap. He was missing his right arm. He carried 8x42 binoculars and seemed happy to use them with his left arm. When we were having a chat he told me he lost his right arm at a very early age, and had since accustomed to use his left arm. When I suggested that IS bins might be just the right thing for him, he shrugged and said his 8x42's were OK for him. Maybe we like what we know, and are conservative. Otherwise I can't explain why non-IS bins are getting more popular to this day up.What is the market share of IS bins? I don't know. 1 % ? If there are 10 to 20 models to choose from, made by a few manufacturers, in a binocular universe of 1000 to 2000 different models, made by a host of international manufacturers, then the IS bins fill a modest niche.Come to think of it, I wouldn't have a clue how many different binoculars there are on this planet. 2000? 10,000?Maybe 1% is still too high an estimate for IS bins on the market.I think and hope that IS will be the future in binocular development, so we can have more to choose from. As far as Canon is concerned, I can live with the full sized models. A compact IS binocular is probably an impossibility to make; the IS system needs room which isn't there in a compact bin.And getting used to the 18x50's I can honestly say that I see my 10x30's as compacts, now. :-OI take these with me on my walk to the supermarket, because you never know when a bird appears. A birder I know never took his bins with him when he went shopping and he saw an eagle last month. Too far off to ID without bins, but he feared it was a Lesser Spotted Eagle. That's a mega in the Netherlands. Lesson to be learned from this: always carry bins.People react on me carrying bins in the supermarket, joking. I always explain to them that I use them to read the prices on the upper shelves. On a neighborhood barbecue a few years ago, I not only brought my bins but my scope and tripod as well. You get interesting conversation, I can tell you.After nightfall people queued up to watch Venus and Jupiter through the scope, and I went searching for my Zeiss 7x42 FL's I let the children play with for hours. It was a fun evening.It's great to read you still love the 18x50's after 5-6 years. I'm using them for only 3 weeks now, but I wouldn't be without them. Every bird is a joy to watch, next time when I go birding on my local patch I'll bring a comfy camping chair to enhance my joy in birding even more.I can't wait to go out seawatching with them, tripodmounted. I sat in the garden in my comfy camping chair this afternoon, 18x's on tripod right at my eyes, leaning back and enjoying the view. 10x30's hanging from their strap on the armlayer, just in case of high flying birds.I might go looking for a Fujinon eyepiece rainguard after all, what Kimmo suggested earlier on this thread. Canon states that the 18x50's are All Weather bins. How would you say your experience is, did you use them in the rain in the 5-6 years you've owned them? I really want some confirmation that they can stand more than a little rain, before I get them soaked on a seawatch.Oh, BTW, the weight has not been much of a problem. The original Canon strap is OK. If necessary I can attach a longer strap onto the Canon strap, so I have the instant possibility to take them from my neck and wear them bandoleer-style on the longer second strap.Best regards,Ronald</blockquote>

Verification