Canon 10x30 IS Review
These
10x30 image stabilising binoculars are among the oldest and cheapest models in
Canon’s current range, which has expanded to a bewildering 11 models from
at least three generations and goes from 8x20 to 18x50.
I
used a pair of these extensively when I lived in a second floor flat in
Switzerland and had only the lakefront boulevard to set up a tiny telescope in
a corner.
Before
that I had thought of stabilising binos as a gimmick,
but I soon realised how useful they were – able to go deeper and resolve
more by eliminating the shakes – and I used them more than anything else,
mainly for deep sky and the Moon too.
If
you want to try image stabilisation without spending too much, these remain an
obvious choice, the cheapest of Canon’s range likely to work for
astronomy (20mm objectives are just too small, 8x magnification too low).
At A Glance
|
Magnification |
10x |
|
Objective Size |
30mm |
|
Eye Relief |
14.5mm |
|
Actual Field of View |
6° |
|
Apparent field of view |
55.3° (105m/1000m) |
|
Close focus |
4.2m |
|
Dimensions (L x W) |
150x127mm |
|
Weight |
600g (excl. 2xAA
batteries) |
Data from Canon.
What’s in the
Box?
Design and Build
Compared
with normal binoculars, the external design of these binoculars is unusual,
though typical of Canon’s entire IS line. They have the look of consumer
electronics not optics, but the fit and finish are good.
Body
The body is plastic covered in a thin rubber that you
wouldn’t call armour because it won’t do much to protect them from
knocks. As I’ve said, they look like the consumer electronic appliance
they are rather than traditional binoculars.
These and the other basic models boast no particular sealing
standard, but their plastic body looks as if it would stand a heavy shower
without leaking. In comparison, Canon’s premium 10x42 IS model is
completely sealed, like a typical high-end birding binocular. The large 15x50
and 18x50s are ‘built to withstand harsh weather’ but aren’t
fully waterproof against immersion.
The
larger IS models are bulky and heavy, but not so these. They are a bit larger
and chunkier than a traditional pair of 10x30s, but weight is very reasonable
at 600g – no more than most conventional 10x30 binoculars.
Focuser
One
of the unusual things about Canon’s IS designs is that they have internal
moving-objective focusing, despite being porro-prism. In practice the focuser
is smooth, progressive and precise, although the knob is on the small side for
gloved hands.
Optics - Prisms
Like other Canon IS models, these are Porro-prism binoculars,
just like traditional ‘granddad’ binos,
though they don’t look it. That’s no bad thing, because
porro-prisms transmit more light because they don’t need mirrors and need
no special phase coatings, unlike most roof prisms.
The clever feature of these is of course the stabilisation,
which works via a flexible lens in the optical path which is distorted under
computer control to counteract shaking. It’s an electrical system like
all image stabilising binoculars except Zeiss’ ancient and expensive
20x60s.
This cutaway image shows the IS lenses and field flatteners
sandwiching conventional porro prisms.
Optics - Objectives
The
objectives on Canon’s basic models like these are simple doublet
achromats and do not contain ED glass, though the larger models from 42mm
upwards do.
They
are marketed as having ‘Super Spectra’ coatings, which seems to
mean the same high quality multi-coatings that all Canon binoculars have. The
coatings certainly look excellent, very transparent and of a neutral muted
greenish hue, as you’d expect from a maker of so much premium optics.
This is important for brightness, but to prevent ghosting and reflections too.
Internally,
the barrels are well baffled against stray light with the sort of multiple
ridged baffles you sometimes get in high-end camera lenses and exactly like the
ones on the top-of-the-range 18x50s.
One
stand-out feature of these optically are doublet field flattener lenses. Now
more widely found in high-end binos, they are still a
rarity at this sort of price. Field flatteners are a great feature for
astronomy, because stars really show-up the edge distortions found in many
binoculars by stretching into lines away from centre field.
Optics - Eyepieces
The
eyepieces appear to be a simple 3-lens design plus those doublet field
flatteners to make 5 elements total. They do a good job, though, with
reasonable eye relief stated at 14.5mm but feeling closer to 16mm. Field of
view is a very typical 6°apparent and 55.3° actual – exactly like my
reference-standard Nikon 10x42 SEs.
Like
other Canon IS binoculars, the eyepieces pivot to accommodate different eye
spacing, but don’t move in and out like usual porros.
As
do all Canon’s binoculars except the premium 10x42s, these have fold-down
rubber eyecups instead of the click-stop variety most modern designs feature.
Fold-down cups are rugged and these do work well, providing a good rubber lip
to rest glasses on when folded down, but they lack intermediate positions and
can be tricky to fold.
Eyecups
have just one folded position, but provide good lip to rest glasses on.
Accessories
The
10x30 IS come with a decent fabric zipped case and the usual webbing strap.
You’ll need to add two AA size batteries for the stabilising, which pop
into a little compartment with a hinged door.
In Use – Daytime
Ergonomics and Handling
The
10x30IS are easy to hold and the focuser falls nicely under the index finger.
The plastic body has the advantage of being warmer to hold in winter. These
aren’t a heavy binocular and are comfortable to carry.
The
eyecups aren’t ideal, but folded down they are comfortable for me with
glasses on.
The View
Even
without activating stabilisation, initial impressions are good: a sharp,
bright, wide, flat field of view with good contrast and minimal ghosting. Like many
eyepieces they are a bit sensitive to blackouts if you don’t get the
position right, but not as bad as the Nikon SEs, for example. Flare and coma
are very well controlled.
Flat field?
As you
might expect, given the field flatteners these incorporate, the field of view
remains sharp and flat to the edge.
Stabilisation
Now
for the clever part. To activate stabilisation, you have to press a button on
top and keep it pressed (some of the other models just need one press for on
and another for off).
It
takes a few seconds for the stabilisation to really kick-in, it’s not
instant. Then, miraculously, all the micro-jiggling just smooths out and you
suddenly see more detail, much more detail. That’s the first thing that
really hits you with these – how much detail you’ve been missing
with ordinary binos, even good ones.
My
wife and I were high up on a hillside, amongst the vineyards overlooking that
Swiss town where we lived for a couple of years. She was using the Canons for
the first time and trying to make out a neon sign a few miles off in Montreux.
She was struggling.
“Benetton?”
She guessed.
“Press
the button on top” I said.
“Oh
wow! Right! it’s Bernard Nicod.”
(A Swiss estate agent) she said confidently.
That’s
how much difference I.S. makes.
You
may have read that stabilisation produces weird artefacts and distortions in
the view. That is true of the more powerful models, but not with these. The
effect is unobtrusive and seamless. You can use the binoculars just like
normal, including panning. It’s just that almost all of the shakes are
taken out. The only thing you notice is a slight tremor at the field edge, but
nothing distracting.
Chromatic Aberration
These
lack ED lenses to control chromatic aberration, but they are not too bad
without it - much like a good, old-fashioned pair of porros
with excellent optics. They do show some false colour fringing when panning
through branches in silhouette, for example, or when watching birds wading in
bright water. Mostly, it’s not intrusive.
This
level of false colour was once the norm, but more and more binoculars at mid price levels now have ED lenses to all but eliminate
it.
In Use – Dusk
Despite good coatings and high-transmission porro optics,
there’s no getting away from the small objectives for dusk use: these are
good average, but no better. Still, these gave me some wonderful views of the
alpenglow-lit peaks of the Dents Du Midi at the end of Lake Geneva.
In Use – The Night Sky
Despite
their small size and contrary to what I have read elsewhere, these bino’s
work well for astronomy.
In
Switzerland we lived in a little first-floor flat above an old cobbled street
near the lake where there was no garden and little opportunity to use a
telescope. During that time the Canons became my only access to astronomy apart
from a tiny telescope. On clear nights after work, I would walk up a steep
footpath, away from the streetlights and into the vineyards, near to the track
of a funicular railway. There I would lie on a stone wall and scan the night
sky (or take a break and watch steamers on the lake, or the moonlit snowy
mountain peaks, or night skiers with flares on the slopes at the aptly named
resort of Les Pleiades).
The
stabilisation is a real bonus for astronomy. Press the magic button and stars
become tight and resolution improves dramatically, almost as if they were
tripod-mounted.
Meanwhile,
basic optical quality is, like all the Canon’s I’ve tried, very
high as promised. These pass the “Jupiter test” with flying colours,
showing no flare or smear.
A
snowy Swiss Moon was one of my favourite views with Canon’s 10x30 IS
binoculars.
The Moon
In
Switzerland, I used to look forward to viewing the crescent Moon each month and
the Canon’s steady view gave surprisingly enjoyable views of Luna.
There
is a little false colour on the Moon’s limb, more than the Nikon SEs, but
quite typical for most binoculars. Otherwise, these give a surprisingly
detailed view of the Moon, more than usual with 10x binos
simple because they eliminate those shakes.
Most
of the mare and highland regions from an atlas or app can be found and
explored, the major craters too.
Planets
Saturn
easily yielded the flying-saucer shape drawn by Galileo (if not actually
visible as rings) and Titan. Tracking the Galilean moons of Jupiter was easy
too.
Deep Sky
Surprisingly,
the dark Alpine nights brought out the best in Canon’s 10x30s.
People
say these small Canons are dim and of course the objectives are just 30mm, but
the steady view lets you see deeper and goes a long way towards making up for
the small lenses when viewing deep sky. Don’t discount this effect
– it’s real. Shaky stars are blurry stars are fainter stars!
Lying
on that wall above Lake Geneva, I enjoyed Praesepe and the Orion Nebula, the
Double Cluster and the string of open clusters in Auriga, the Andromeda galaxy
and the star fields in Perseus. I even used the Canons for some of the
practical sessions in my Open University astronomy course.
On
other evenings, I’d walk out on a pier into the lake and enjoy the
lapping waves below and the sparkling Pleiades (cluster not ski resort) above.
One
memorable evening in February 2007 we sat on a bench near the village of St Saphorin and watched comet McNaught low in the twilight
over the French pre-Alps towards Evian on the far side of Lake Geneva. Two
nights later we dragged a telescope to the same spot, but the comet was already
too close to the Sun …
The view from my favourite astronomy spot above Lake Geneva.
Summary
I
really liked the Canon 10x30 IS binoculars. True they don’t gather as
much light as larger pairs, but the stabilisation is no gimmick and helps make
up for the lack of aperture. If you travel a lot, or live in a flat, or just
want a quick-grab way of getting an astronomy fix between winter storms, these
are well worth considering.
Alternatively,
if you just want to try image stabilising binoculars without blowing your
budget, these are an excellent choice.
They may be an old and basic model, but Canon’s 10x30
IS binoculars have excellent optics and good stabilisation. They are highly
recommended.
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