Canon 10×30 Image Stabilizing binoculars.

A big, unexpected leap forward in enjoyment.

Around this time I’d befriended Adrian, a colleague and fellow amateur astronomer, who had even built several of his own Dobsonian telescopes. They were beauties, too. Anyway, I wanted to buy a telescope, but he wisely suggested I spend time exploring the sky with a good set of binoculars. In particular, he was very fond of the Canon line of Image Stabilizing binoculars.

I had used Dad’s standard 7×50 binos for years, and I’d hoped to get my own set with similar, 50mm objective lenses. I had been impressed with how much light they could collect. Unfortunately, in 2001, the Canon 15×50 IS model cost over $1000. So, I settled for Canon’s 10×30 IS binos, and I’ve been very happy with them. I could attempt to explain how the image stabilization works, but it doesn’t matter–what really counts is that, without the stars jiggling all around, I can see way more detail, and many more stars. That really surprised me, how much more I could see when I could just relax my eyes and look. As I write this, several years later, the Canon 10x30s are what I grab when I step outside for some instant astronomical gratification. They work very well with my glasses or without. I paid around $450 for them, but the cost has come down to around $300. There’s even a new, smaller, lower-cost model.

When Comet Encke was nearby in the winter of 2003-2004, either the Canon 10x30s or my eyes weren’t up to the task of gathering enough light. Which lead me to my next purchase…

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