The button on Canon’s image-stabilized binoculars unlocked superhuman sight
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From pirates to spies to kid detectives, it’s a common Hollywood trope: hold a simple spyglass or binoculars up to your eyes, and you’ll effortlessly get a crystal-clear cylindrical picture of what’s going on.
That’s horseshit, of course. Unless you’ve got the hands of a surgeon, it’s surprisingly hard to line up eyeballs, multiple pieces of glass, and a faraway subject. Kid Sean was sad to learn that fact. But I’ll never forget the day Teen Sean pressed the magic button that made all the difference: the one in the center of the image-stabilized binoculars that Canon still sells today.