Canon Binocular Image Stabilization

Zeiss or Canon binoculars?

I’ve been looking at new binoculars and I’ve narrowed it down to two options: The Canon 10×42 L WP for £766 or the Zeiss Conquest 10×50 T* for £789 but can’t make my mind up between them. Zeiss have an excellent reputation for optics and larger aperture but the Canon have image stabilization which is supposed to steady the image without a mount. I’m not sure how well that really works in practice.

My recommendation: Go for the Canons. The image stabilisation works a treat and in my view places them in an entirely different category to traditional binos, in that you can see things you never thought possible. I’ve never heard of anyone upgrading to IS binos and then going back.

I’ll be very clear here: I am not knocking Zeiss, but their reputation is probably a little overstated. It seems they are in a similar situation to Zambuto mirrors – they are very good quality but the rants and raves grow to the point where you could easily believe they are the best out there period. In reality they are not unparalleled and other top brands can match or even surpass them – I would give Leica binos the edge over Zeiss for instance. That doesn’t mean they are not extremely good.

However, optically the Canons are very good too and they have a reputation to be proud of. I wouldn’t rate them as quite as good as Zeiss but they are not far off – at this level the differences are very small. However as I said the image stabiliser does transform them: I have a pair of Canon 12x36s here and I have seen Saturn’s rings through them handheld. The image stabiliser plays a large part in that of course but it would still be impossible if they didn’t check out optically. The 10x42s are the premium member of the IS range so I would expect them to perform even better. Don’t be worried about the smaller aperture – the IS helps there, and I find I can see over a magnitude fainter with my 12x36s than I can with a traditional pair of 7x50s. In light polluted skies the difference is well over two magnitudes but of course the additional magnification helps there.

In summary, in ordinary circumstances I very much doubt you will notice a marginal difference in optical quality between the two. You certainly will notice the effect of the image stabiliser.

14×40 Techno-Stabi Image-Stabilizing Binoculars