With the cold weather I went to the camera shop over the weekend and looked at a few options.
Cameras
Im looking at a half decent camera as the iPhone just doesn't cut it,
The guy at the shop showed me a few different brands and this one is dust/splash proof.
Olympus OM-D E-M5 MkII Adventure Kit + 14-150mm II Lens
Binoculars
Do any of you think an inbuilt compass is worth it
Nikon 7x50CF OceanPro CF WP Global Compass Binocular
What do you have / use / thoughts ?
That might be a bit fragile on the boat. I use a Pentax Optio WG-2 on the boat. It's an adventure camera that I use underwater and for normal use. At home I use a Canon EOS 7D which is an alloy body camera built tough but I would not take it to sea. Ebay has them for reasonable money second hand and they have excellent reviews. I paid about $400 for a body only, already had a selection of lenses.
For binoculars I use half a 7x50. The other half is in the car.
Really depends on what you are buying the camera for, just for boat use or a bit of everything,
I bought a d3200 nikon ( entry level ) dslr 4 or 5 yrs ago,
I do use it on the boat but it does get hidden away on the bed to ( try ) and protect it a bit,
Binos are cheapish 7 x 50 no name no compass,
If l really, really need a compass bearing l just turn the boat around to use the boat compass,or chartplotters ( 2 )
They live on the boat but tbh l rarely use the binos,
Nikon Coolpix W300
Waterproof to 30 metres, 5x optical zoom and it does up to 4K video recording and an added benefit is that you can have it in safety yellow to help find it more easily.
The only thing I don't like about it is that it uses a proprietary battery but then so many of them these days do, I would prefer something that takes AA's.
www.nikon.com.au/en_AU/product/digital-compact-cameras/waterproof/coolpix-w300#overview
Binoculars depends entirely on the type of boating you do, you will find that most of the time they are tucked away and you couldn't be bothered. Any of the major brands would more than satisfy your needs, try to stay under 10x50 as anything above 10x becomes very difficult to hand hold in a boat, 7x50 are ideal as they have a large exit pupil and that's something that's very handy in low light.
The Tasco offshore with the compass are good binoculars but I've only used the inbuilt compass a couple of times in the fifteen years or more I've had them, I'd forego the compass in favour of auto focus, which saves a bit of time mucking around focusing .
Never used anything else but a Tasco 8/20 for daytime and the unwashed masses and a Steiner 7/50 Commander Race Edition for myself. It works very well at night, too.
Thanks all
My thinking for binoculars is a bit like insurance, good to have and hope you never have to use them in a dyer situation, more like a bit of site seeing or whale watching.
As for cameras, I have learnt the more you research the more confusing it becomes and the less you actually know.
Select to expand quoteCraig66 said..
As for cameras, I have learnt the more you research the more confusing it becomes and the less you actually know.
Not really. Start with an adventure camera brand of your choice. I chose Pentax simply because of the price. You need a camera that takes good pictures and videos that works underwater. Mine works down to 30 metres but works equally well lashed to a boat hook and poked down under the boat to see whats around your prop! I regularly take videos sailing offshore and never worry about spray.
Same camera goes with me on cruise ships.
I have a GoPro for underwater stuff.
Handy as it links to phone so u can see what it's pointed at in real time.
i went on a cruise ship once. Took a box brownie 
