Canon 12x36 IS Review
I
was initially cynical about image stabilising binoculars, but Canon’s original 10x30s
convinced me, back when I lived in a Swiss apartment with nowhere to setup a
telescope. There is no doubt: one of the main limiting factors with hand-helds will always be the shakes and binoculars that
eliminate it have a real head-start in terms of resolution.
The
Canon 10x30s were great, but I wanted more power (don’t we all), so I started
looking at Canon’s other IS offerings.
For
astronomy, the 50mm models have most appeal, but a brief fling with a pair of
18x50s left me unsure – they were powerful and sharp, but the IS seemed to
induce a lot of strange visual effects I didn’t like. So being a cheapskate, my
next IS binos were the 12x36s.
Please note: I’ve since reviewed the newer IS III model. You can read it here.
At A Glance
|
Magnification |
12x |
|
Objective
Size |
36mm |
|
Eye Relief |
14.5mm |
|
Actual
Field of View |
5° |
|
Apparent
field of view |
55.3° |
|
Close
focus |
7m |
|
Width x Length |
150 x 174mm |
|
Weight |
660g |
Data from Canon.
What’s in the Box?
Design and Build
The
Canon IS range has three different groups: the first includes 8x25, 10x30 and the
12x36 on test here, which share a similar, non-waterproof design and are light
weight and fairly cheap. Then there are the premium 10x42s which are fully
waterproof, have special lenses and are mainly aimed at birders. Finally, there
are the larger binoculars, of semi-waterproof design: 15x50 and 18x50, which
are much heavier and more costly.
Even
more recently (2017) Canon have introduced some new designs in the smaller
sizes that feature a dual-action stabiliser that may help resolve the artefacts
I’ve noted in this review by offering an ‘IS light’ option; I haven’t tried
them yet.
All
Canon’s IS binoculars work on the same principle: a computer detects movement
and alters the shape of a special flexible optical element to compensate and
cancel the jiggling your hands induce. You activate this system by simply
pushing a button.
Body
All
the Canon IS binoculars use porro-prisms (not the
roof prisms more commonly found on high-end binos),
but their design looks nothing like other porros.
They have a non-pivoting plastic body and have the general appearance of an
electronic gadget rather than fine optics.
Not
only do the Canon IS 12x36s look different from other porro-prism
binoculars, they work differently too. Instead of the whole body pivoting to
accommodate different eye spacing, just the eyepieces pivot.
Weight
for the 12x26s is 660g: just a little heavier than the Canon 10x30s. They are
some 24mm longer, too – due to the longer objective housings to accommodate
their longer focal length lenses. Nonetheless, like the 10x30s these are a
light and compact binocular.
Unlike
the more expensive models, these don’t offer any special sealing against water
ingress (the 50mm models are basically splash-proof, the premium 10x42s fully
waterproof).
Focuser
Most
porro-prism binoculars like these focus by means of
moving eyepieces, but on these it’s the objectives that move. The focusing
action is smooth, though: better than most porros,
but not quite equal to the best roofs.
To adjust dioptre, you just twist the right eyepiece, but it
is (and has to be) quite stiff to avoid moving it by accident.
Optics - Prisms
As I have said, the Canon 12x36s use porro
prisms, albeit with a slightly different geometry Canon refer to as ‘Porro II’. These are basically the type in your Grandad’s
old binos’, but they have serious advantages over the
roof prisms found in most modern birding binoculars. For one thing, porro prisms don’t need mirror coatings, so they transmit
more (and scatter less) light. For another, porro
prisms don’t need special phase coatings to deliver high resolution.
Optics - Objectives
The objectives look to be a conventional doublet design, with
no large air gaps or special dispersion lenses. They do, however, boast Canon’s
premium ‘Super Spectra’ coatings.
Behind those objectives, though, lies all the IS magic – the
real-time-deformable lenses that work by altering the light path to provide
image stabilising.
Optics - Eyepieces
The
eyepieces are a fairly simple design, but they do incorporate a doublet
field-flattener. They have a pretty standard field of view of about 5° true, 55° apparent –
same as Nikon’s 12x50 SEs - but it’s very flat and usable to the edge thanks to
those flatteners.
Eye
relief is stated by Canon as 14.5mm, but seems more like 16mm on my pair. This
is enough to make them fairly comfortable if you view with specs on.
Unfortunately,
the fold-down rubber eyecups are less convenient for glasses-wearers than the
click-stop type, especially if like me you share them with someone who doesn’t
wear glasses.
Those
pivoting eyepieces may also be less accommodating for eye separation than more
conventional designs. If you have a narrow IPD (inter-pupillary-distance) you
should try before you buy.
Accessories
The
10x30 IS come with a decent zipped fabric case and the usual webbing strap.
You’ll need to add two AA size batteries. The batteries supposedly last about
four hours in continual use.
In Use – Daytime
Ergonomics and Handling
The Canon 12x36s are light weight and generally easy to
handle, once you get used to the unusual, all-in-one, body shape.
The focuser falls easily to finger and though the knob is
quite small, the action is smooth and fluid. Focusing is perfectly accurate
with no slop or play, no nasty shifts when changing focus direction.
The
binoculars are easy to hold and with the eyecups folded away they are
comfortable for me with glasses on. Like many wide-field eyepieces they are a
bit sensitive to blackouts as you shift eye position, but not as bad as the
Nikon SEs, for example.
The View
Initial
impressions (before pressing the magic button) are pretty good: a sharp,
bright, wide, flat field of view with good contrast and minimal ghosting. Flare
is very well controlled.
Stabilisation
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 stops and you suddenly see more
detail.
However,
compared to the smaller model, the 12x26s take longer to settle after hitting
the button. Even when they have settled down, here are those weird artefacts in
the view that I had experienced with the 18x50s and not found with the 10x30s.
In particular, I found a cyclic shift in focus disturbing: over the course of a
few seconds the focus would blur out and then sharpen again. The 12x36s didn’t
take well to being panned either, making a chattering noise and giving a
strange jerkiness to the edges of the view.
Those
quirks are the price you pay, though, for much-improved resolution – beyond
anything hand-held 12x binoculars would reveal without a support.
Flat field?
The doublet field flattener means these do have a very flat field
all the way to the edge.
Chromatic Aberration
There
is a little chromatic aberration (false colour around the edge of high-contrast
subjects), more than the Nikon SEs, but quite typical for most non-HD
binoculars. The high-end Canon IS models use ED elements to control chromatic
aberration. The cheaper models are not bad without it, though this 12x version
may have a bit more than the 10x30s, as you would expect from scaling up the
same optical design.
In Use – The Night Sky
Despite
their small aperture, Canon’s 12x36s do work well for astronomy. You might
expect them to be dim, but that’s not the impression. As with the 10x30s, it’s
as if removing the shakes allows you to see fainter stars, compensating for the
relative lack of light-gathering lens area.
Meanwhile,
the flat field is great for extended objects and star fields.
The Moon
The
12x36s show more detail on the Moon than just about any other hand-held
binoculars I can think of. In some ways these show you more than premium 12x50
birding/hunting binoculars, such as Leica’s lovely 12x50 HDs, just because the
view is so much less jiggly.
If
you love the Moon, but live in a city, with nowhere to set up a telescope, then
the higher power Canon IS binoculars (with 12x being the minimum you’d go for) make
a lot of sense: head out to a quiet spot, find a dark corner and take your fill
of Luna, enjoying the phases and seeing the terminator highlight the major
features in turn. Under such circumstances, you’ll easily forgive the IS
artefacts because these binos will give you views
you’ll otherwise only get at star parties.
The Moon does reveal just a little false colour around the
edge – a trace of purple one side, green the other.
Planets
If
you want to take an occasional peak at a planet with binoculars, Canon’s IS
line again win over un-stabilised designs, even premium ones. You can make out
Saturn’s shape, easily see Titan, follow Jupiter’s Galilean moons and just
about make out Venus’ phase (usually a tall order for binoculars).
The
Canon 12x36 IS pass the “Jupiter test” with no significant flare or
prism-spikes.
Deep Sky
An objective size of 36mm isn’t ideal for deep sky, but the
stabilisation really seems to help finder dimmer objects and much of the
Messier list is within the grasp of these. I enjoyed the clusters in Auriga,
the Pleaides, the Dumbbell Nebula and more. The flat field makes star fields a
pleasure – try the area around the Double Cluster. Fainter Messier galaxies are
hard to find without larger lenses though.
Summary
In
terms of the basic optics, it’s good news: sharp, bright and detailed with good
suppression of flare. There is just a bit more false
colour than the latest HD designs. Handling is good too, the focuser smooth and
accurate. The eyepieces offer a wide flat field and plenty of eye relief, with
the old-fashioned fold-down eyecups the main negative point.
However,
in some ways I prefer the 10x30s, because their image-stabiliser is so
unobtrusive. The image stabilisation on these 12x36s is much more intrusive,
showing the strange artefacts like focus shift I found with the 18x50s. Then again, these do reveal more than the
10x30s, both during the day and for astronomy too. These are also arguably
a good compromise between the slightly under-powered (for astronomy) 10x30s and
the much heavier (and costlier) 50mm models.
If
I had to be without a scope for an extended period again, as I was whilst
living abroad, I might be tempted by one of the higher magnification models like
these and just live with the I.S. quirks.
Despite
the strange effects the stabilisation can create, the Canon 12x36 are highly
recommended because no un-stabilised hand-held binoculars come as close to a
telescope in reach and resolution.
