Looking to buy small, cheap video camera for activism.. Suggestions?

[Matt Collins]

I am looking to purchase a small, inexpensive video recorder that can be mounted on a tripod for political activism purposes... any suggestions?

[tod evans]

Used proctologist camera;

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/09/19/video-undefined-1BEB1E48000005DC-608_636x358.jpg

[Matt Collins]

Used proctologist camera;

That picture is really really creepy... on a number of different levels.

[JK/SEA]

That picture is really really creepy... on a number of different levels.

brings back some bad memories eh?

[eduardo89]

How small does it have to be?

[JK/SEA]

How small does it have to be?

thats funny for some reason..

[Ronin Truth]

Not exactly cheap, but check out GoPro.

[parocks]

How much to spend? Pretty much anything would do. Octopus tripod and ball head 5 bucks each on ebay. I'd upgrade my hx9v to hx50v 30x zoom helps with politicians in arenas.

[Matt Collins]

I'd prefer something under $100

[Natural Citizen]

I'd prefer something under $100

Many people just use their phones but at least with a cheap digital camera you're not at risk for the kill switch that they want to pass. Actually, I think one state did just pass it. Always for the safety of consumers. Amazes me how much they need protecting. And nothing good ever seems to come from it. Consider this...one minute you're using your phone to film an important thing that is happening and the next second it gets shut off. Because...consumers.

Anyhoo... I have a cheap point and shoot 12mp 3x zoom Sony Cybershot DSC-S2100 that I bought for a hundred dollars that takes 640x480 video and 4000x3000 pixel jpgs. Also has 6 GB of internal memory but I also use a 32GB sd card. All I use it for is baseball/softball stuff for the kids and it does a pretty good job. It's been from one side of the country to the other, dropped, rained on, sand inside it and still puts out crystal clear audio, video and images. It fits right in my pocket, runs on 2 AA batteries (2 Duracells are good with it for around 6 hours of video, Energizers last maybe 8 hours worth). It's threaded for a tripod but I'm so steady I don't need one. Like a cheetah, Matt. :)

[Cleaner44]

How small does it have to be?

It needs to fit comfortably into tiny hobbit-like hands.

[Bryan]

IMO, generally speaking, the most important feature that you should require is an audio input jack. Most cameras have very poor on-camera audio which makes getting good audio difficult in all but the most idea of situations. With an audio jack, most possibilities are open (shotgun mic, remote mic, sound board feed, etc). You should know that as an audio engineer. :)

Video is easy with a tripod.