Canon IS binoculars 15x50 vs. 18x50

Has anyone compared these binoculars head to head? I'm leaning toward the 15x50s since they have a larger FOV and are a tad less expensive. Please advise. Thanks.

Greg

Hi Greg. I am not sure why the 18s are more money. It seems analogous to the 16X vs the 10X Fujinon situation. Maybe it is a bit more costly to retain eye relief with higher power oculars because I do not believe the Objectives would be made to any higher standard to accomodate more power.

I tested a pair of 15X Cannons. They were excellent. Under 5th magnitude skies, NGC 204 and M1 could easily be seen while hand holding this unit. However, it is a heavy binocular and after a minute or so, I needed to lay on my back. Still, it was very rewarding using these. The optics were simply outstanding to the edge of the field. Saturn at Zenith could be easily elongated and I nearly thought many times i could resolve the ring system but it was a "suspected" observation. Would the 18X unit have done the trick? 3X more...maybe but so what? This is a casual use instrument and can be gotten for ~$825 or so.BTW, the Lunar views were really good. It is strange hand hoding a binocular and seeing the Moon floating quietly with no shakes. My feeling is that the 18X is better used in daytime but there may times wjen you think that 3X more would net a feature or object that the 15 can't.

Russ / Denkmeier Optical