Ever had trouble with a wobbly view from your high-magnification binoculars? Image-stabilized (IS) binoculars are the solution to this problem and the Canon 12x36 IS III binoculars are now 25% off on Amazon. With 12x magnification and image stabilization, they are perfect for watching the night sky in detail and close-up terrestrial viewing.
You can get the Canon 12x36 IS III binoculars on sale for $656 on Amazon.
Jase Parnell-Brookes is the Managing Editor for e-commerce for Space and Live Science. Previously the Channel Editor for Cameras and Skywatching at Space, Jase has been an editor and contributing expert across a wide range of publications since 2010. Based in the UK, they are also an award-winning photographer and educator, winning the Gold Prize award in the Nikon Photo Contest 2018/19 and named Digital Photographer of the Year in 2014. Since joining Space.com, they have reviewed a huge range of skywatching optics, including telescopes, binoculars and image-stabilized binoculars.
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In our full review of the Canon 12x36 IS III binoculars, we were impressed with their astronomy use despite only having 36mm objective lenses. Normally, we wouldn't recommend binoculars with such small objective lenses for astronomy but thanks to the excellent image-stabilization (IS) and 12x magnification, they offer good views of space objects, like constellations and the Orion nebula (M42).
The binoculars also feature the Porro II prism design, which is leaner than binoculars with traditional Porro lenses, so you get a strong optical quality with a compact form factor. On top of this, a field flattener lens also assures a crisp view from edge-to-edge with minimal chromatic aberration.
Image-stabilized binoculars can get pricey quite fast but in recent months we have seen more and more models go on sale with some good reductions. This deal from Amazon gets you 25% off the Canon 12x36 IS III at a sale price of $656. It's the cheapest they have been since March last year and will make a great purchase ahead of the new moon on Jan. 18, when you can use them to scope out deep-space objects like nebulas, galaxies and star clusters.
Key features: 12x magnification, 36mm objective lenses, 5-degree angular field of view, 14.5mm eye relief, 23 oz (660 g) weight, 0.8-degree correction angle.
Product launched: May 2015
Price history: The Canon 12x36 IS III binoculars usually retail for $880 but they are currently on sale for $656 from Amazon. This is the cheapest they have been since January 2025, when they were $628.
Price comparison: Amazon: $656 | Walmart: $673 | Best Buy: $780
Reviews consensus: We gave the Canon 12x36 IS III binoculars a huge four and a half stars for its strong stabilization that gave us steady views of the night sky and enhanced our stargazing experience. It also functions as a great pair of wildlife watching binoculars, too.
Space: ★★★★½ | LiveScience: ★★★★½ | DigitalCameraWorld: ★★★★½
✅ Buy it if: You want some binoculars for amateur stargazing that double up as a great pair for terrestrial use.
❌ Don't buy it if: You prioritise huge objective lenses over other features like image stabilization. A pair like Celestron SkyMaster Pro 15x70 binoculars might be better if this is the case.
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