Don's recent post about video reminded me to ask about a product I saw
advertised in the latest edition of Audubon magazine: the Canon 12 X
something or other (36 or 40, I'm sorry my memory's not more specific)
binoculars with image stabilization and a price in the thousand-dollar
range.

Image stabilization sounds great, but a thousand bucks is a lotta moulah
for a casual neophyte birder like me to invest at this point in a pair of
bins. If this is a new product, then what are the chances the price will
fall? Does Canon have any competition as far as this product goes? What
are the advantages and disadvantages of image stabilization? Comments,
anyone?

I realize we had a thread on optics a few months ago, but I don't recall
any specific references to this feature.

Thanks for your help.

---Lisa

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Lisa M. Smith, Seattle WA <subplot at u.washington.edu>