I bought this Canon Kiss (also known as EOS 500 or Rebel XS) camera body for $15. The seller said he did not check carefully whether it was fully functional. So it was an AS-IT item. Turns out everything is working as it should be.
Usually you can buy it for $20-$30. On top of that, you need to buy a lens. I recommend buying the 50mm f1.8, which cost you $50- 60. In total, you will pay no more than $100 for a decent film SLR kit.
As a lot of people know, the price of film cameras is increasing dramatically, especially the compact ones. So buying a cheap SLR such as the Canon Kiss becomes very reasonable because you stay away from the hype and speculation. You don’t need to pay for the "sentimental value" like you do to the popular film ameras.
Since the Canon Kiss is using the EF mount lens, if you are already using the Canon DSLR, you don’t have to buy lens additionally. You just need to buy the Canon Kiss camera body, and you can use the EF mount lenses you already have, which makes the whole thing even more economical.
Compared with the 40-50 year old film cameras, the Canon kiss has a lot of auto features such as auto loading, auto focus, and auto exposure, which makes the camera more user-friendly to beginners. It is also better than point and shoot cameras, because everything is more accurate, and the lens quality is better.
The probability for taking a good picture is larger, you don’t waste your films and so you save money in the long run too.
Finally, it is super portable. Unlike other SLR, the Canon kiss is super small and light weight, it is very easy to carry with you especially when you use it with a small lens such as the 50mm f1.8.
Here are the sample photos. (Lens: EF 17-40 F4, film: Kodak ProImage 100)
