$10 Challenge: Kodak Disc Camera

I love finding cool retro items listed on Facebook Marketplace. In many ways it’s become what Craigslist once was, the place where people try to offload all their unwanted random things lying around.

Every now & then people have some pretty outlandish prices, but overall I feel prices on Marketplace are on the lower side. I see so many items priced at like $5. I mean, is $5 even money anymore? What the hell can you buy for $5 or $10 at this point?

Well on Facebook Marketplace that could be all sorts of things!

My theory is that most people posting on Marketplace would rather see an item go to someone that could use it other than throwing it in the trash. It’s not really about the money. Which is why you find so many things dirt cheap.

So I decided it would be a lot of fun to create an ongoing challenge for myself, where I would seek out and pick-up cool items that were $10 or less, and see what I can find!

The $10 Challenge

For right now I’m going to keep this challenge strictly limited to Facebook Marketplace, for items that are $10 or less.

If I see an item that’s above $10 that I like, I can try to negotiate down to $10 or less. But I’m giving myself a strict rule now that I can’t tell the person I’m negotiating with about the Challenge. The reason why is I don’t want to unfairly influence the decision. I want to see what kind of deals I can get naturally.

What items will I focus on?

Typically I go in phases of what I’m looking for, right now it’s cameras and film related items. I want to try and focus on functional items like cameras & film so I can test them, create images, and share them here!

But really, it will be whatever cool retro or oddball stuff I feel I just gotta have!

Here’s my first pick-up as part of the $10 Challenge!

The Kodak Disc 3600 Camera!

I picked up the Kodak Disc Camera 3600 for just $5! It included the original box and all of the instructions!

The thing looks like it was never used. Battery compartment is totally clean.

It even has the original price tag on it from Hess’s Department Store, which was at one point the most iconic store in Allentown.

Now I don’t know if the camera actually works or not, because I don’t have any film for it yet. Once I secure some film I’ll give it a full test and see if it’s in working condition.

My thought behind this pick-up was it doesn’t even matter if it works or not. It’s a great piece to display, especially with the inclusion of the sticker from Hess’s. I already have another disc camera or two, but not with a box, which is what pushed me to pick this up.

This camera shoots on film that looks more like a Viewmaster slide than it does normal roll film. It’s way smaller than 35mm film, even smaller than 110 film. And you only get 15 shots per disc. The cameras were also notoriously dysfunctional and would often jam when shooting. With these negative factors combined, the Kodak disc camera did not enjoy a long life after its 1982 introduction.

It is considered a dead format and you can only purchase expired film for it, which isn’t the cheapest to be found.

Thoughts on the Challenge

The idea for the $10 Challenge came to me AFTER I picked up this camera. With better preparation I would have had some disc film ready to go, shot it, and then developed it for a review of the camera & film format.

I think that’s how I’m going to approach this Challenge moving forward, especially if I’m picking up a functional camera.

The second reason I want to do this challenge is it forces you to travel to areas I probably wouldn’t go to otherwise. I really like the idea of exploring and also having new areas to photograph in. So I’m hoping to get a lot out of this!

Also, I’ve never shot disc film before. So that will be its own adventure for a future post!

When looking at the location of the pick-up I noticed a huge quarry nearby. So I decided to bring by drone and explore a bit!

Drone Stuff

Back in January I picked up a drone for some Real Estate photography work. And man is the world a different place from the sky! These little drones are so damn amazing in the images they produce and what it opens up for you.

I foresee myself using this a lot during my kayaking and hiking adventures. Not to mention some general exploring!!

Here are some unedited shots straight from the drone!

Video Stuff & I’m Out

I mainly use the drone to shoot video. So I put together a little reel of some of the shoots I’ve been doing, including the quarries from picking up the Kodak Disc Camera!

Keep in mind that the landscape has been covered in snow since I picked this thing up, so everything in this reel is snow covered!

I’ll likely be taking the drone with me on most of my $10 Challenges! I’m very excited to not only see what kind of cool items I can find within the parameters I’ve set for myself, but what interesting locales it may take me to!

In the meantime, enjoy some majestic Winter drone footage!