Yesterday, B&H advertised a 35mm movie camera for the price of $39.95 (Now back to $99.95). It accepted standard 35mm still film and with each roll you could shoot 6 seconds of footage. Naturally, no one would use this camera to shoot a movie, but if you did how much would it cost?

Lomokino 35mm Movie Camera: ~$40.00
35mm Roll of Film: ~$4.00
Processing: ~$10.00
6 Seconds of Footage Per Roll

Using these figures we can establish that a minute of footage costs ~$140, plus the initial cost of the camera.

Expanding on that:
10 Minutes of Footage: ~$1400
20 Minutes of Footage: ~$2800
Etc.

Now let's look at the cost of shooting with an Arri iiC:

Arri iiC: ~$500 (Ebay) With video tap and PL mount!
1000' Spool of Film: ~$300 (Ebay)
Processing: ~$0.16 per foot
11.6 Minutes of Footage Per Roll

Therefore, ~$40 per minute of film
10 Minutes of Footage: ~$400
20 Minutes of Footage: ~$800
Etc.

So what does this prove? Maybe that the myth of film being prohibitively expensive comes from the price of still 35mm film that many of us are more familiar with, rather than the pricing of a bulk purchase of 35mm.

Making 6 seconds of a test with bad glass, no speed control, and a plastic body: Get a lomokino!

Making a film longer than 6 seconds that has sync sound? Don't get a photokino!

Listen to, oh, I don't know, this guy: