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Old 05-01-2012, 12:35 PM   #5
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
I have not yet used a set of stabilized binoculars but if the stabilization systems are anything like the ones used in camera lenses these days---- which I have used a lot---- they would be very effective.

One of the two digital cameras I use for personal projects is a Cannon with a zoom lens with a 35mm equivalency of 24mm to 840mm. You ever try to hand hold an 800 mm non-stabilized lens? Impossible to see anything other than jerky blurs.

In the Visit to Eagle post I made to Cruising and Events-West Coast bucket there is a shot of a notch barge underway. The second shot of the tug was made with this particular Cannon camera with the lens all the way in to 840mm. Hand held, from the deck of a moving boat.

The only thing I don't like about stabilized camera lenses--- and I don't know if the binocular lenses are the same--- is the jerks the image makes when the movement of the camera exceeds the ability of the optical stabilizer to hold the image steady. At that point the image jerks to a new framing and holds there until the movement exceeds the limits again, and it resets with a jerk again.

The gyro stabilized cameras we use for aerial work are a whole different ballgame. There the entire camera is being stabilized so there are no jerks at all no matter how much the mount moves.

But based on my pretty extensive experience with optically stabilized lenses I would say that if you need binoculars of more than the typical 7 x 35 or 8 x 50, a stabilized unit would be the way to go if they are as good as today's optically stabilized camera lenses.
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