Image-stabilized binoculars: may be of use to bird watchers with fat wallets and shaky hands.

by James K. Sayre

Recently I read about the use of image-stabilized binoculars in a local sailing magazine. (Although I have never sailed, I find this magazine, Latitude 38, to be quite well written and interesting. My last encounter with the open sea was some fifteen years ago: getting sick on a large bouncy catamaran ferry boat from the Australian mainland out to a small resort on Heron Island; needless to say, I returned via helicopter...).

Anyway, some of the modern and well-off Pacific Coast sailors seem to swear by these new (new to me, anyway) image-stabilized binoculars as being very helpful in clearing seeing distant objects in the daylight and boat lights in the nighttime from the deck of a rocking sailboat. And sailboats are always moving in three dimensions when they are under sail in the open sea.

Image-stabilized binoculars are made with some modern electronics are and are powered by several small batteries. I have not yet handled a pair, but they might prove to be quite useful for bird watchers and nighttime star gazers. Image-stabilized binoculars are manufactured by camera and binocular companies including: Nikon, Canon, Burris, Bushnell, Zeiss, Newcon and Fujinon. Just search the web for "image-stabilized binoculars." The website, www.binocularsforless. com listed all the brands at discounted prices. Prices range from about $300 on the low end to $1,000, $1,500 or more on the high end.

As an active bird watcher in eighth grade, many years ago, I was very happy to buy and use a pair of high quality 7x35 binoculars. As a late middle-aged adult bird watcher, I was thrilled to spend over $100 several years ago get some fancy Bushnell zoom binoculars that went from 7x to 15x power. Since most of my present bird watching is from setting behind the desk in my sun room and watching the nearby hanging outdoor bird feeders, or observing from my small backyard, I doubt whether I really need imaged-stabilized binocular power.

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