Bear with me on this one. I know it's illogical. I've had, over the years, all iterations of Canon IS except the 18x. I currently use my IS 8x30 a lot, when out walking but not "actively" birding. I love them...small, light, great views. All IS binos I've had give better views of the bird, far superior to any alpha bins I've owned or my current fave "active birding" bins, Zeiss TFL 8x32 or SRBC 8x42. So why don't I use the little Canons on birding outings? Apart from the IS 10x42, other Canons have moderately good glass. On a stable support, the TFL/SRBC smoke the non L-series Canons. But one doesn't use binos on a support for birding. SO....here's the problem. The IS feature gives more detail of the bird, but it also shows up the shortcomings of the "moderately good" glass. Kind of lifeless, not as "pleasant" to look through, low light transmission, etc. This shouldn't matter to me, but it does, maybe because twenty years on BF has made me very picky about the glass. Obviously on a dedicated birding outing I have a scope/tripod, so I don't "need" IS in my binos. The Canon IS 10x42 would be fine, if they weren't designed to look and feel like something from a futuristic dystopian movie. If Canon or Nikon produced a nice, ergonomic IS bino, with L-series glass, in 8x30/42, I'd be first in line, and never look back. I wouldn't even demand waterproofingBut it's not going to happen, is it?
I realise there are more pressing problems facing humanity than my desire for a regular IS bino with superb glass, but is this why IS binos haven't taken off, despite the tech being available for decades? The glass just isn't up to scratch, and the IS merely serves to show it's shortcomings?
(P.S. I'm just musing, none of this matters)
I realise there are more pressing problems facing humanity than my desire for a regular IS bino with superb glass, but is this why IS binos haven't taken off, despite the tech being available for decades? The glass just isn't up to scratch, and the IS merely serves to show it's shortcomings?
(P.S. I'm just musing, none of this matters)