Canon 18x50 is All Weather Image Stabilized Binoculars

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.

The Flexible Lens caps folds down, and they are designed to fold down around the sleeve with the lip of the cap folding under the flange. It actually is a great design, see the two pictures I uploaded. For those of you that are not folding down the lens caps, you are loosing about 30% of the field of view. Its noticeable when you look thru the eyepieces. A little heavy, but as expected. Will work with a tripod, the tripod needs to be tall. I also added a set of Hoya 58mm Lens covers with the cannon 58MM lens caps. They just screw in and will protect my lens. I had the 10x30's and these 18X x50's are a definite upgrade. Looks like a good deal to me. 5 Star

Good optics. Magnification is nice enough to give good detail to features on birds for identification. Stabilization holds a steady look. Eye-shields do suck.

First, let's demystify binocular numbers: 18x5018 - 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.

So far so good BUT...I don't understand how Canon can sell such an expensive piece of equipment that's been around for 20+ years with such shoddy accessories. There are NO objective lens covers. And the eyepiece covers are individual caps that don't attach to a strap. The included strap is too thin for something this heavy but since the strap is often a personal choice and probably one of the most frequently replaced items, I'm not surprised.Finally, the cheap sack they call a case isn't much. My biggest complaint here is that it's pretty exposed at the top, the clip is pretty cheap plastic. Also, if you use it, get objective lens caps and covers instead of the letting the lenses grind against any debris that might wind up at the bottom of the bag. The 58mm threaded Canon UV filters and lens caps work great.Because these binoculars ARE nice and worth protecting. I just wish Canon thought the same.

While these are heavy and not practical for all applications, they work extremely well when weight is not an issue. I use them when hunting in east North Carolina in large areas of soybean, cotton and peanut fields that can be as long as half-a-mile. On managed land such as this, it is easy to pick up and identify deer when antler size minimums can be an issue. The stabilization of the image is truly amazing with no lag in viewing and no negative impact on image quality. Take these to your MLB or NFL game of choice and you can all but count the stitches on the ball. Battery life is reasonable and the unit conserves power by shutting down after a couple of minutes if you forget to hit the button manually. The big lenses can be protected with standard screw on UV filters you can get anywhere. Without the image stabilization I would have never considered 18 power binoculars because they are impossible to hold still without a tripod. I tried them at a photo/video show and was immediately sold on this technology.These units, while expensive, have been worth every dime and offer up detailed viewing that is simply unavailable on other binoculars...and they are essentially weatherproof, an added bonus.