Canon 18x50 is All Weather Image Stabilized Binoculars

Due to the great features it is understandably a bit heavy. They will be very good to see all the amazing wildlife we have on the west coast and make it easier to observe the UFO activity over the mountain.

Overall an excellent binocular. I have a hard time hand holding a binocular with more than 12x zoom, so the IS on this product is key to get a portable product that still has a good amount of magnification. The eyecups are hard to use and you have to jam them onto your face to get a good field of view or fold back the eyecups. I wish they had the standard twist outs that every other manufacterer seems to have that provides light control and is comfortable as well. That being said image quality is excellent and it's still well worth the purchase. Interestingly, these are my first set of 18x binonulars. Field of view is tight and my vision is excellent so I find that the improved field of view of some nice 12x binoculars like the excellent Swarovski 12x42 NL Pure is preferrable and more immersive. But when 18x is what you need this is a great pair. Update: after several months of ownership i continue to love the optics and performance of these binoculars though truly hate the eyecups. It’s uncomfortable to jam your face into them for an immersive view or else you fold back the cups and have lots of light spilling in. I finally solved the problem by folding the middle of the eyecups in which allows light to be blocked from the sides and a great view but no pain on the nasal bridge. This kept flipping back up but i liked the solution enough that I used rubber Sugru putty to mold the eyecups into a good ergonomic position flipped down in the middle (used rubber band to hold in position while glue set overnight). It’s a little ugly but now binoculars are prefect and comfortable.

i had too cut eye cups flush and add eye guards from telescope eyepieces , guess my eyes are close together ipd, also got the 58mm uv filters, also got the 58mm lens covers, both work together or u can use one or the other, i got the generic canon 58mm lens covers for 5 bucks, yes they should come wth binoculars!! but works perfectly, no complaints so far !! at first i had trouble finding the winged eye guards, but lucky that i found a link to “Alpine astronomical “ and they stock the size needed to fit over eyepiece perfectly. if you just cut eye cup flush with eyepiece, the size is 40.5mm...,,,, update, first light, i saw, m101,m51,m81,m82,m92,m13,m3,, all easy for these canon 18x50 bins, i was surprised at the size of these objects, also got a peek at jupiter, could easily see it as a perfect disk ! and the moons of course, just incredible !,, clear skies! , updated 5/25/2019,,, updated 6/7,19,, got a really great sky and picked up m97,m108,and m109,seen not glimpsed seen! 10th magnitude!!! just for reference i had the pleasure too own a 8 inch cass, 7 inch mak, and miyachi 100mm binoculars, not rich just lucky,all sold and gone, life got in the way and i could no longer get out under the star’s, after 15 years i’m able too again, i didn’t want a big telescope again, but wanted too see my old friends again!! , after a lot of reading “ astronomy came a long way!” and my best bet was the canon is,binoculars, yes for advanced users for sure, but these things are just awesome, and so same for the 12x36 is iii,. clear skies!!, also can be a powerful tool with 0-||| or other dso filters , i’ve seen m8 m17 m16 easily without these filters, but the pop u get with these fiter’s is very good, and noticeably better than without them, u can use a step up ring for the 2 inch deep sky filters, think 48mm too 58mm camera adaptation rings. as a last note, these 18x50mm binoculars are a globular cluster fanatics dream !! i’m one of em lol.,, was able too glimpse m109 :) hard one though!!

Very pleased with these, the image stabilization works very well, regardless of light level. I was debating which power to get but am glad I chose the highest power model. I don't find the smaller field of view to be an issue.

First, let's demystify binocular numbers: 18x50 18 - is the magnification power compared to the human eye at the same distance. 50 - is the objective diameter (in mm) of the aperture or lens opening. i.e. the bigger the number the brighter and sharper the image, the better for low light use, such as star gazing or artificially lighted night stadium events. For example, binoculars that are rated 9x25 will have an object that will be twice as small (or feel twice as far away) and will be 50% darker and less sharp in the viewfinder than these Canon 18x50 (before factoring in the stabilization). I have owned these Canon 18x50 IS UD binoculars since Aug 2009 and love them. My wife uses them for bird watching and we both use them as a telescope. The stabilization system works great and really does well at eliminating shake and jitter. Even though these are expensive binoculars, they remind me of the high-end units we used in the US Navy that cost thousands of dollars. Also, the rubber coating is good for truly all-weather service. Make sure that you get an inexpensive set of 58mm UV filters, at time of purchase, to put on the front elements for protection from physical damage and to protect the lens coatings from body oils. UPDATE: 27 Oct 2017 These binoculars continue to serve well and have been used for everything from bird watching to amateur astronomy. I would buy them again.