If you shake less, will you see more?

Jon Bentley thinks your next pair of binoculars shouldn't wobble

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Sometimes you experience a feature on a product that's so transformative you'll never buy one again without it. CarPlay (and Android Auto) are now practically must-haves when it comes to cars for example.

I'm now feeling the same way about image stabilisation and binoculars. It's not a new feature. The earliest ones appeared in the '90s. But I don’t think I'd ever tried a pair until recently.

I don’t know how this gap in my tech experience happened. I've long been a fan of image stabilisation in cameras and the exciting picture-taking opportunities it allows, from handheld light trails to nocturnal landscapes, and I've been impressed with how much the technology has improved in recent years.

The tech used in binoculars is similar. Either an optical or electronic system, or both, are used to counteract hand movements and vibrations, to provide a steady image, by shifting lenses or prisms.