What brand of camera do you carry onboard?

[10yearplan]

I would like to purchase a good camera to capture some of our sailing adventures. Any suggestions?

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by 10yearplan

I would like to purchase a good camera to capture some of our sailing adventures. Any suggestions?

I have two extremes

1. A waterproof point and shoot Panasonic that also does video and a small gorilla pod.
   
2. A Nikon DSLR with a range of lenses, a flash, a very large gorilla pod, a tripod and filters.

It depends on the space available and my ambition.

[HopCar]

A lot of my customers have been buying several Go Pro cameras and mounting them in different places on the boat to make action videos.
Cameras

[blgklr]

Go Pro is a good option for stills I think the Olympus TG series are the best tough point and shoots, for a more serious interchangeable lens camera I would reccomend the Pentax K-30 as a good weather sealed but not submersible APS-C sized sensor DSLR camera.

[simonpickard]

I just got the new Sony NEX 6 interchangable camera and couldn't be happier.Very compact, DSLR quality (to my eyes anyhow).
USB charging- which works great with our portable solar panel charger.

[jgbrown]

I'm really, really impressed with the OMD-EM5 from Olympus. Very weather-proof micro 4/3 camera(means interchangeable lenses across several companies are available), packing a solid sensor, great auto focus(both phase and contrast), and a really secure grip. Can add a vertical grip with extra battery, has a proper hotshoe etc.

Several people I go to school with are picking them up as secondary cameras for shooting weddings etc. It just feels right in the hand, even with glasses on the viewfinder was decent.
I've given a lot of thought to just switching to m4/3 and picking one up with a nice set of lenses. If I wasn't planning to really work on my studio stuff this year, I probably would have.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/re...5_review.shtml

[GaryMayo]

A camera is only as good as it gets use. A great camera sitting lonely in the bag does nothing. Smart phones come with better cameras than some stand alone cameras we still use. Smart phones also have apps you can download to improve your photography, and you can post images and video directly to the internet.

My iPhones were great and the androids seem to be good also, but learning the new apps.

Having your camera always in your pocket means more photographs, and images not stuck in a computer.

These fish are in my art studio and an app helped me give them the impression of being published.

[Boracay]

A year ago I brought a Panasonic DMC-ZS8. Nice camera, small and does good pics. I brought it to suplement my Pentax DSLR, but I havn't touched the big camera since.

Having looked at the Amazon reviews it appears some are underwhelmed by the customer service.

[Dockhead]

First of all, make sure your phone has a good camera in it. The killer advantage of phone cams is that you always have them with you! I have a Nokia N9 which has a superb camera with a Zeiss lens (better than my regular digital cameras a couple of generations ago) which also makes full HD video. Because it is always in my pocket, it is always there when I unexpectedly see something worth photographing. Have made many, many memorable photos and videos with it.

I reluctantly gave up chemical photography a few years ago and sold off all my Leica gear (except for a few favorite lenses, including a Noctilux, which might find their way onto some digital camera someday).

As a regular camera, I now mostly use a Panasonic Lumix LX-5. It has a superb Leica lens which is highly unusual in a point-and-shoot camera in that it is fast, F2, and wide, equivalent to 24mm. Its native format is 16:9. Best camera I could find that fits in a pocket, which is now a firm requirement for me for any camera. Shoots raw and has full manual controls, if you feel like messing with all that. There's now a new version out with an F1.4 lens, too.

I have been tempted by the Micro 4/3 system cameras, which have bigger sensors and interchangeable lenses, but I keep coming back to the idea that when I'm sailing I don't have time or attention to fiddle with cameras. I need something which is in my pocket, ready at all times. A better camera which is back on the boat is useless.

[GrowleyMonster]

My camera is very compact and doubles as a GPS, digital chart plotter, video display, internet terminal, email terminal, ebook reader, game console, alarm clock, and has many other useful or entertaining functions. It takes both stills and video, of quite good quality. I can also use it to make phone calls over 90% of the world not covered by water and a fair portion of what is. Unlocked and Jailbroken iphone 4S.

[conachair]

I got a good deal on one of these on ebay. Bit clunky for photos but works OK and great for Video.

This guy uses one..

KTL DVD 04 part1 -Womack to Great Yarmouth - YouTube

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by GrowleyMonster

My camera is very compact and doubles as a GPS, digital chart plotter, video display, internet terminal, email terminal, ebook reader, game console, alarm clock, and has many other useful or entertaining functions. It takes both stills and video, of quite good quality. I can also use it to make phone calls over 90% of the world not covered by water and a fair portion of what is. Unlocked and Jailbroken iphone 4S.

Our pantec element takes awesome video and stills. Has front and rear mounted cameras and os water proof. Its cool on Navionics HD when you take a pic it storea the oic in ypur pic folder but also links the pic to the spot on the chart.
Our snorkel camera is a waterproof fuji only goes 10' deep but was cheap and has lasted. Next one will be a go pro

[Cormorant]

We bring two:

--Pentax W80 waterproof camera. Good for snorkeling, or just leaving out in the cockpit in the rain or spray.

--Canon SX40HS for the 35X zoom. A joy to bring in far away seals, puffins, boats, etc.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Forget the Olympus TG series.... I have one with the GPS ...All their claims are true except for one thing... The thing takes the absolute worst images of any digital camera I have owned... Which is about 5 different brands.... beyond disappointed with it...

[jeremiason]

My wife takes most of her pictures with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i, of course that isn't always practical on a sailboat.

In October, we purchased the new CANON D-20, which looks like a pocket camera, but is waterproof down to 10 meters. The D-20 is 12.1 Mega pixel, lots of settings and a video mode.

The nice thing was it allowed us to carry a camera during the Tropical Rainy Season.

We have also taken it snorkling several times and found it takes teriffic underwater pics.

Go here to see some examples of the underwater shots we took using this camera in while snokling in the San Blas Islands Panama