Subject: Canon Image Stabilizing binoculars
Date: Jun 1 08:54:49 2004
From: cametobe at comcast.net - cametobe at comcast.net


In response to Kathleen Marie Dowd-Gailey's inquiry about the Canon IS bins: I've had a pair of 10x30 for 2-1/2 years and adore them. They make it possible for me to actually ID birds that I can't even see without them. Taking the shake out of the viewing has made a huge difference for me. I can't imagine birding without them. But you're right, I don't see people bringing them up when recommendations are asked for. I got mine at Kenmore Camera, which offered a two-week bring-em-back policy at that time (I've no affiliation with them, they were just very nice to me, and much closer than Anacortes).

If there's any real downside to them (they're water resistant, not waterproof, and they do take AA batteries, but these aren't real downsides to me), it's that they sort of spoil me -- I can zero in on getting a good look, and am thus less motivated to make the observations in habitat and behavior that are often required to make an identification, and which help to make a good birder. I realized this after reading a recent article in Birder's World about a fellow on a birding trip in Central America who had a fabulous guide, who used a very bad pair of bins. But the guide was so familiar with habitat, behavior and appearances, that he could see and identify birds that the birder with the great bins couldn't see.

--Rebecca Galloway
Northgate, Seattle