When looking through binoculars with higher magnifications, the image presented can often be distorted and lack clarity, due to ’shake’. Or the inability to keep the binoculars steady enough to focus closely on the object of your attention.

This is particularly relevant under low-light conditions experienced primarily at dawn or dusk.
As these are times when a significant amount of wild-life observation is undertaken, it is a problem requiring a solution.

The answer is stabilized binoculars.

The simplest form of stabilization is a tripod, whether a camera tripod or a specially designed tripod specific to your binoculars. Most good quality binoculars, come with a threaded mounting socket, that will accept a standard tripod mounting screw, or a fast release shoe on more upmarket models of tripod. This allows focussing and viewing without the need to support the weight of the binoculars, resulting in better image resolution and enhanced viewing pleasure.

The only downside to this is, of course, that you must lug a tripod around with you. Modern tripods made of carbon fibre are remarkably light and impose no real weight penalty. But try erecting one in the still of the dawn, on a moor in Scotland, when trying to observe the mating ritual of the red grouse. Your subject matter will be miles away by the time you get your binoculars mounted.

You could always use a bean bag to stabilize your binoculars and also provide a degree of cover in the above scenario. Once again you have to carry it with you, so there is that consideration to be taken into account.
Modern technology has provided us with yet another solution.

Image stabilization within the binoculars, themselves.

This can take one of two forms, active or passive.

Active stabilization takes the form of detection of movement by piezo-electric detectors, also known as gyroscopic detectors, which then compensate for the movement by adjusting one or more elements of the image path to correct this ’shift’.

Passive stabilization may involve the stabilization of the whole binocular by gyroscopic means,or alternatively, by separating the light transmitting elements from the body of the instrument. ( they ‘float’ within the binocular housing).

Stabilized binoculars, by whatever means chosen to achieve the stabilization, will generally provide a better image resolution, especially at higher magnifications, and as a result, a more pleasurable viewing experience.

Image Stabilized Binoculars

Binoculars can be heavy pieces of equipment, especially those providing the higher levels of magnification.

A good pair will generally tip the scales at between 2 and 3 lbs. The job of holding them steady enough for clear viewing, even for relatively short periods of time, can become a feat of muscular endurance.

When you add in low light levels, wind, the cold and excitement, very often the combination of any or all of these variables, can render detailed observation nigh on impossible.

So what’s the answer? Holding the binoculars on a tripod, is one solution. But what if circumstances don’t permit the use of a tripod. Besides, using binoculars on a tripod can, in certain circumstances, be a very real ‘pain in the neck’, particularly when trying to view the night sky at angles greater than 30 or 40 degrees above the horizon.

Observations from moving vehicles of any nature, also tend to rule out the use of a tripod as a means of stabilization. All vehicles suffer from vibration, to some degree or another. So any observation from such a platform, even with a tripod-type solution, will still face image degradation, due to vibration.

The answer is Image Stabilised Binoculars.

Developed initially for high-end video cameras, the application of image stabilization technology has spread to include still photography, and both telescopes and binoculars, as well as more specialised areas, including medical imaging.

By utilising image stabilization in binoculars, it is now possible to hand hold binoculars with magnification powers, well in excess ot the previously accepted upper limit of 10x magnification.

This means that binoculars with magnifications up to 18x can now be hand-held, without the degradation of image quality, previously experienced at magnifications of this order.

The stabilization process is most commonly achieved by the use of small piezo-electric motion detectors, also known as gyroscopic detectors. These detect motion in the horizontal and vertical planes and feed information to tiny motors that move the prisms within the light path to compensate for this motion. This system will compensate for angular movement up to 0.7 of a degree.

Image stabilized binoculars are, as a result, more expensive than their non stabilized counterparts. The improved viewing experience, is, in my opinion, well worth the additional cost.