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Hello I did not not whether to post this in the "Students and First Time Filmmakers" section or under the "Cameras Systems and Formats" section, but decided to post here because of the primitive nature of my question. I recently was inspired to look at film movie camera prices. After seeing the cheap prices on ebay (99 cents for beautiful antiques that were "working") I really wanted to buy a cheap model (I am a student so I have at most 30$ to spend). I asked a friend of my sisters who goes film school about them, and he brought me to my senses and told me that it is almost impossible to find 8mm film (not surprisingly, they were all movie cameras that took 8mm film or double run). Don't want to bother him anymore, so I will be asking questions here. He told me to get one that took super 8 film because it is the cheapest film (and it and 16 mm are the only accessible types). Question 1: When I go online, it shows super 8 film more expensive then 16 mm. http://compare.ebay.com/like/140523928548?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar 450 ft of 16 mm for 60 dollars Everytime I find super 8 film, 50 ft is 22 dollars...I feel like I am way oversimplifying this. Can someone link me to the cheapest super 8 and cheapest 16 mm that can be found? Question 2: What attracts me to filmmaking (with film) is the process and hands-on components that it brings (as opposed to digital). Consequently, my "ideal camera" would be one that takes the cheapest film, but also is hand-cranked. From what I understand, camearas that took Super 8 film were made after they stopped making hand cranked movie cameras. Is that correct? Would it be impossible for me to find a super 8 camera that also has a handcrank (I don't want to go mix and match or something like that)? Question 3: As an ebay shopper, are there distinguishing features that I can use to detect if a camera will not work? For instance, my friend who is very into film photography says that if that place where you load the cartridge is scratched, then the film will always be messed up. Are there similar things like that that apply to movie cameras? Thank you for all your help (and I hope that I posted in the right forum) Jonathan