80 Film Cameras for Under 50 Dollars!
By Brian Auer • September 17th, 2008I want these awesome camera reviews to be the main focus of this article, so all the text will be below the mosaic. As a result of a group project, here are 80 film cameras for under $50!
And if you’re into film, be sure to check out my film photography blog.
When I announced this project, I wasn’t sure what to expect for the level of participation. I asked for people to buy a sub-$50 film camera (or use one they already had), write a review of the camera, and publish an entire roll of photos from the camera. I was kind of hoping for 30 or 40 entries.
But the community exceeded my expectations and surprised the heck out of me! We had all kinds of crazy stuff showing up: rangefinders, SLRs, TLRs, toy cameras, underwater cameras, point & shoots, box cameras, folding cameras, Polaroids, and even a 3D camera. 80 of them in just one month! I applaud your efforts — you guys are awesome! With all this enthusiasm for film photography, I feel like we’re on the brink of a film-revolution. It was great to see so many people picking up a film camera for the first time in years (or for the first time ever!), and having such a good time with it.
So if you’re ever looking for a cheap film camera — just go through the list above and I’m sure you’ll find something that sparks your interest. The photographers who participated in this project have essentially created a huge resource for other photographers that may be interested in film photography.
OUR SPONSORS ROCK!
How cool is it that ILFORD Photo and Lomography have sponsored this project to give away a Diana+ and 10 rolls of film to 3 winners!? These two companies are at the heart of present day film photography and it’s pretty awesome that they’ve taken an interest in our project.
I’d like to offer my thanks and gratitude to both companies for joining us, and I encourage all of you to check out what they have to offer.
A BIG THANKS TO OUR JUDGES
I asked each of our two external judges to choose their favorite project entry — which is a daunting task with 80 participants! I’d like to extend a huge “thank you” to Jim Talkington and Udi Tirosh for taking on this role. Two of the three winners are shown at the very top of the list, and will each receive a complimentary Diana+ from Lomography and 10 Rolls of film from ILFORD Photo. And don’t forget to cast your votes for the third winner!
A few words from Udi of DIYPhotography.net…
Participation was amazing. Now, this is not your ordinary “shoot a pic and submit” kinda contest, it requires effort, discipline, and commitment. After all it is film and it takes at least one day to chimp. Not to mention getting a camera for less than 50 greens.
It is not easy going through 80 entries so here is the process I used: I divided the submissions into 8 groups of 10, and browsed through each group, limiting myself for one or two selection per group based on general impression, first paragraph, and camera reviewed. I ended up with 12 reviews. I skimmed through the 12 and narrowed it down to three. that was not easy as there were more than three that actually were really good.
It was a though competition between Nick Jungels’ Pentax K1000 review, Erick’s Marine XI, and Mr. Wolf’s Yashica SamuraiX3.0.
The Pentax K1000 review was written right from the heart. It is packed with the technicalities that would interest me when considering a film camera like the viewfinder, the aperture ring, and “feel” of the camera. However, Nick is not just talking about the K1000, he is talking to the K1000, and for this he gets my full appreciation.
The Wolf’s interview with Dr. Lomo was fun to read and was both amusing and informative. and earned points for “sucking up to the prize givers” (yes wolf it was worth it).
The last review that made the final trio was the Marine XI. I could not resist a review that brings GAS in the first paragraph. This certainly got my attention. This along with the creative use of flash got Erick the winning vote. This and the Cohaagen-Give-those-people-air expression on the set taken with the camera.
And a few words from Jim of Pro Photo Life…
It’s been a great deal of fun getting to judge these entries. From the moment Brian first announced the contest I’ve been looking forward to seeing what readers would come up with and the results have exceeded expectations. This contest rocks, on many levels.
There was a great deal of diversity and many interesting cameras: toy cameras, half-frames, Soviet SLRs…you name it. And being totally honest, I always like a good bargain. Part of the intrigue would be seeing just how much camera could be purchased for $50. Just what bargains are out there?
So it was with a bit of a personal surprise that I found my winner to be Janne in Osaka with the simple “Handy Box” box camera. Rather than seeing how much camera could be purchased for $50, Janne showed how little camera is actually needed to enjoy photography and create beautiful photographs. The text was informative, explaining the camera, company background and tips for shooting with the simple little box. And the photos sealed the deal for me. Shot in a variety of situations and obviously more than just a test roll, they were a pleasure to view.
But the tech junkie in me still wants to buy a Zorki, Fed or Olympus Pen. As a runner-up I have to go in the other direction and point out the very unique Yashica Samurai half-frame camera (and equally unique review) from The Wolf Brigade. The little Yashica is about as high tech and over-engineered a $50 camera as you’ll find, a complete contrast to the little Handy Box. Long live the endless variety and possibilities of the $50 film camera!
Again guys, thanks so much for judging this contest!
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!
[UPDATE] The official voting is over and all three winners have been awarded their prize — but you can still leave a comment about your favorite entry!
Like I said, we’re giving away 3 prize packages. The first two winners have been chosen by our judges, and the third will be chosen by the masses. Leave a comment with your vote for best project entry. Look for those who put in the extra effort and/or got creative. You can vote by listing the entry number or the name of the reviewer — if you hover your mouse over the thumbnails, you’ll see this information show up. More than one vote is OK if you can’t decide between a few really good ones. One week of voting, then I’ll tally-up the points and announce the third winner.
Brian Auer is a photography enthusiast from North Idaho. He's also the guy behind the Epic Edits Weblog. As a hobbyist photographer since 2003, his passion has been to constantly improve his photography skill set, to share his own knowledge with others, and to become an integral part of the photographic community.
Visit the author's homepage | View all Epic Edits posts by Brian Auer
a mamiya C330 under 50$?
OM2, OM1 and yashica mat under 50$ are not a deal are a very very lucky found.
why never happen to me
So I’m pretty gutted that I only made it as a runner up, and part of me wants to vote for myself, but I’m not sure that would be entirely fair. You don’t mention any restrictions about that though? I thought I should check early on if that is acceptable or not.
I had planned to vote also for Janne’s “Handy Box” as out of the many reviews (and I’d read a lot so far!) I also thought that it was easily the best review I have read.
I will hold off my judgment until I can finish reading every one of the reviews there as it’s only fair that I give each a fair go, though I’m with Latente on some points. A few of those cameras can not be bought for under $50 on an average market, though an occasional lucky find may be out there.
I have my fingers crossed
Off to read the reviews!
Almost forgot
Congrats to the winners! I’m especially keen to see what Janne ends up with from this in terms of final outcomes….(I loved his Handy Box shots
)
Congrats to the winners. Now I’ve got a lot of reading to do.
P.S. I’m entry #34, the Praktica B200, vote for me
pant pant, read all the reviews (i zee some 404
)
and My winner is: (30) Zorki 4K, by Hitesh Sawlani
Congrats to all entrants, it’s obvious everyone had fun and, in the process, contributed to a really valuable resource for future $50 film camera research. And this post presentation is really nice, Brian, the camera photos are perfect navigation. I’m pulling out the spare cash and heading to eBay…
Wow, that was unexpected! I was completely sure I didn’t stand a chance once I started looking through the other early reviews. Big thanks to Brian for organizing the whole thing!
Have a few favourites already but I want to look through all the reviews before casting my vote.
I vote # 15 tomas webb
I vote Number 26 , Panorama Camera!
congratulations to all participants. This post is amazing and is a great tribute to the origins of modern photography.
Only now when you’ve posted all images together it shows what a great ride this has been. hats off.
Now, quick accounting says I only need 4000 Dollars to satisfy my GAS.
So I’ve read through every single entry. And I keep coming back to Hitesh Sawlani’s review. Iove the idea of a FED camera, and I really enjoyed the review, with the photos being suitable shots from a rangefinder….
I don’t feel comfortable voting for myself, so my vote goes to: (30) Zorki 4K, by Hitesh Sawlani as well.
I I can’t vote for myself, I vote #77 – Minolta X-370 write up.
Good luck finding a Mamiya C330 or a Nikon F3 for under $50. I suppose it’s possible that someone has one of these out there on a yard sale table, or that a really shady-looking auction for one of these might end at $50, but really not likely.
Wow, I loved the idea so much, I just went and put a bid on Ebay for a twin reflex lens camera. I think that would be so much fun to play with! I was inspired from reading Jeremy’s blog (The Johnson Clan). He’s got my vote!
~His4ever~
Ok . I still have my first camera a Kodak Retina 1A which I got for christmas in 1962! Yes I am that old.
I will brreak it out this weekend and shoot a roll of film. I remember the Kodachrome 25 I used then, wonderful colors ect. I will shoot a roll of B&W and use the f/16 rule, no meter!
It’s fun to look at all the entries and see / read their entries. I cast a vote for Sarah Gerace’s Yashica-MAT LM. I liked her pictures as well as the review she wrote. Great contest.
My favorite is the Yashica-mat LM (from Photographic Culture)
I really liked doing this challenge
Will keep on doing more reviews even if the challenge is over, there is no shortage on cameras… somehow the collection keeps growing even when I’m not looking, hehe! I’m going to look through all the reviews here, but it will take a while I think 
It was interesting that so many chose Yashica, one of my favorite camera makers.
I vote for #15
Gah that was tough to go through all of those reading and viewing, very awesome results I agree.
My votes have got to Wolf, Gary, Jeremy Johnson.
I enjoyed taking part in this project, thanks for all the hard work to make it possible. Good luck to everyone!
Oops, may want to include the numbers.. they would be 15, 21, and 39
My vote goes to #53 for the sunny fruit juice 35mm camera, this thing is great and original!
I just ordered one off of ebay and it will look great next to my lego camera!
As for the speculation that you can’t find some of these cameras for under 50$, I don’t think people are cheating on that portion of the rules. Sometimes its luck, or risk, or just some hard work.
I refuse to pay more than 50$ on a Yashca, so I got mine on ebay from a little old lady who didnt even know if it worked. There are alot of these as-is items and taking the risk is part of getting it for the right price.
I vote for 15 the Wolf Brigade. What an effort!
Well, surely given that both judges mentioned it, the runner up has to be The_Wolf_Brigade… Plus, y’know, the shots were good and all that…
wolf is awesome!! count my vote for #15 for sure.
Way to go Wolf_brigade, outstanding work. My vote is for 15.
Way to go Brian on a fantastic project. And way to go to all the entries!!! Some really great stuff. You are all winners in my book.
My vote is for #26
First of all I want to say that this was a GREAT idea! Not only for the prices (that I really, no, really was looking forward to win… bummer
) but because now we get a lot of very nice film cameras reviews to read.
I’m reading them all and after that I will cast my vote. Thanks for this!!
.
(And any votes for my entry are really appreciated
I finally read the most of the reviews and my vote is 40.
I also want to note amazing photos of #72 Yashica Mat LM by Sarah Gerace and Daria Sukhanovska’s FED 4 #57 review. These three reviews I liked the most.
where is my review gone??? i cannot see it here
number 7 fed 3 for me! a great cam and great shots!
Gotta go with #15.
Great project overall, and some amazing results came of it. And some people found some great deals on cameras. Wish I was as lucky of a shopper!
I’m one of the winners! Thanks you Brian!!
This is so exciting! I wanted to do this, but have been so crazy lately that I never got the time I needed to devote to it… but that’s okay, because I’ve already found a ton of new cameras that I want to try to track down
Congrats to the winners, and thanks to Brian for a great idea!
PS. My votes:
#15 (The Wolf Brigade) – For insane creativity. I loved it.
#2 (Stephan Kaps) – Beautiful images, and a great look into a camera that I’ve been curious about.
#72 (Sarah Gerace) – I totally sympathized, because I had the same problems with my Yashica at first, and I love the images!
I vote for #7 – Brenden
I vote for #7 – Brenden
I vote for #7 – Brenden.
my vote is going to #7 BRENDEN <3
I VOTE FOR #7 – BRENDEN.
I VOTE FOR #7 – BRENDEN.
Numero 7: Brenden
Interesting string of comments…
I vote for NUMBER SEVEN/BRENDEN
I VOTE FOR #7 – BRENDEN.
“Interesting string of comments…”
Different or same IP address? =P
All different IP’s.
Voting ; #7 – Brenden
NUMBA 7! Brenden DELZER!
I don’t mean to be a dick, but do I need to explicitly state that I reserve the right to call Shenanigans and just pick the winner myself? Or is that already implied and understood?
The concept for voting is to recognize participants who did an extraordinary job with the project — not to recognize those with the most friends. I’m not saying that Brenden didn’t do a good job, but it’s a little curious that so many Brenden-only votes are coming in all at once… just an observation.
I VOTE FOR #7 – BRENDEN.
Number seven contestant Brenden
I vote for Brenden!
i dont understand why do you stress the man when theres so many real things at hand
I VOTE FOR #7 – BRENDEN.
These are all very good, but my vote goes to number 7, Brenden Dezler
” not to recognize those with the most friends.”
Sorry I thought when you said vote for who did an extrodinary job, and if so many people agree with me that Brenden did and you’re going to call ‘shenanigans’ then what was the point of asking to people to vote at all? When you ask people to vote there’s going to be winners and losers. Why not just say “I’m going to pick who I felt did this best” instead of wasting all of our time by asking to go through everyones reviews and pick who we felt did the best.
I just find it curious that all the Brenden votes started coming in at exactly the same time, and with almost identical text. The article has been out for over 24 hours, and prior to 11:30, Brenden had one vote. In the four hours after 11:30, there have been 16 votes for Brenden’s entry and they’re mostly the same text — “I VOTE FOR #7 – BRENDEN”.
This doesn’t look a little off to you?
I vote for #9, Chica!
I’d like to vote for #46 – I thought the camera comparison was hilarious and creative.
Many good entries; I can’t choose just one. There were a couple that did stand out to me – good pictures, good review and the tone and enethusiasm just plain made me want to get a camera like theirs.
#15 Yashica Samurai
#29 Diana+
#77 Minolta
#7 – Brenden!
ah the magic sensation of voting with tor enable
My Vote goes to #56 Golden Half.
I love the shots from the camera as well!
I Vote for # 48 – Erick Cusi
i vote for 66, Ani Castillo
the cute Umi holdiing the camera you must to love her, and the story!!!
I vote for #7 – BRENDEN!!!!
i vote #7 brenden!
i vote for #15
i don’t know brenden, but he is on my list…
i only had a look at the gallerys! i must confess
i like vicunas’s beier beronique, johanaffendys’s poor man’S lca, the fed 3 (brenden), mattcharnocks olypus ans krilles golden half
(and i found my review.. sorry for asking)
oh… and i thought we can send only ONE review, so we had to decide which cam we take…
And none has voted for me yet? Shame on you all…
Very good quality of both the reviews and photos, but my vote goes for #15 – The Wolf Brigade. The creativity on the post itself gives him the prize, but his approach to the half frame was amazing to look at.
And by the way, different IPs is just a question of changing proxy, nothing more…
My vote’s for #8. Smenas rule
I want to cast my vote for Bren… just kidding! My vote goes to #24 Bob Simmons. Excellent, evocative pictures.
I got to say that I kind of don’t understand the criteria the judge used for the winners, now that I read every review and browsed every photo I certainly saw far better images in other entries. But I guess diversity and different points of view is what makes life interesting. In short: Excellent job everyone! And of course, congrats to the winners
I feel that it is probably too late for me to win, but all the same I would really appreciate if anyone cares to take a look at my entry (#27 Olympus Pen EES-2) and give me some comments, tips, everything. I know my review is kind of rough since my english is not very good (I’m a Spanish speaker).
Last: Thanks Brian for the opportunity, I had a lot of fun!
At this point in time, 19 votes for #7 – Brenden will be removed from the contest. Upon inspection of the raw access logs, it was determined that these 19 votes were made within several minutes of landing on this page from various livejournal pages (and first time visitors too) — certainly not enough time to even glance at all (or most) of the project entries.
I’ll leave the comments on the page so this discussion isn’t confusing to future visitors. I apologize to my regular readers for the disruption. And I sincerely thank all those who have spent the effort going through these reviews prior to voting — it’s a huge task.
Voting for Tomas Webb aka the_wolf_brigade
vote for number #3!!!!!
I vote for #58
Thanks for review, Antonio!
I have also Agfa Billy, but I can’t use I yet. It’s bellow is full of holes. I need to find some time to repair it.
Number 3 is kind of interesting
I vote for #42.
Great pics in so many of the contributions.
I’m slowly going through the list and I’m already enjoying myself completely with the blogs I’ve read. Lots of great stuff and style. Good job, you all!
Hi everybody!!!!
did i did somthing wrong?
everything looks so fine, but i cant find my review on this site
I vote Number 67
and:
26 ,
53
there’s so many to choose from! but i’d have to say beier beroquick KB 135 by stephane heinz.
Am I too late to vote ? Mine goes to Violeta for her pinhole camera, cos she not only went out to find one that’s under $50, she built it herself too !
Congratulations to the winners, and to everyone else for their reviews and effort. Thank you, Brian, for the great contest and facilitating something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and that’s write an instruction manual for my ancient Kodak folder.
I thought I was going to vote for a fellow folder, but I have to vote #66, by Ani Castillo. I found the story to be entertaining and charming, and I like the snapshot aesthetic of her photos.
Thanks Chica, for voting for my submission. Its nice to be recognized for hard work. And thanks to the 15 or so people who read my review..
Congratulations The Wolf Brigade! I knew it!
Congratulations, Wolf Brigade!
I enjoyed a lot of good reviews here and yet I still have yet to read them all. But I can say that Wolf’s Brigade review made me want to find the odd-looking Yashica Samurai and buy it. (On my GAS list.) The Golden Half is my second choice for half-frame cameras.
The other camera I’d love to get is the #28′s GP Hero. That thing is just too cool. Weather, water, and activity resistant…just strap it to your wrist and away you go! (Also on my GAS list.)
I also have to mention that #78′s Stephanie Briggs review for the Tura Underwater was very attractive. She did a great job creating a web page for it.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Any possibilities for an ugly camera contest? (Is there such a thing?)
41 !
Rock solid camera with best lenses – best selection over all
This is wonderful, thank you so much!
I have a question though, do any of these cameras enable you to develop the film yourself? Like in a darkroom?
I’m pretty sure all of them enable you to do that. You just need to have the right equipment, chemicals, and knowledge. I develop my own b/w film, but I still have my color film processed at a lab because the steps are a little more involved.
Film Rocks! Film has a quality (don’t ask me to explain – I can’t) that digital does not capture. Its like the taste of fish for the first time – you know its different and good – but you can’t explain it.