Back in the 60s a god-awful camera called the Diana (among other names) was made in Hong Kong. Its main advantage was that it cost a buck, US. Its disadvantages were legion, from using more-expensive 120 film to light leaks to a crappy plastic lens. At the time I heard of photography teachers using it as an alternative to students using good cameras with tons of adjustments. Compose in the camera and [del]hope for the best[/del] learn how to shoot, knowing you only have twelve tries, not twenty-four or thirty-six.
Hope was the operable term with super-cheap cameras. Their technological vagaries meant that every shot was an act of faith that your own abilities in composition and technique would overcome them and you’d end up with a decent photo. Such was not the case with me, so I stuck with my Kodak TLR that I paid five times as much for.
There were the hopelessly ironic in the 60s, and they still exist today. For them a POS camera was both a challenge and a statement, and the lowly Diana can cost as much as $150 on eBay. The guys at my link apparently realized that they could copy and improve on the Diana AND undercut the collectors by a hundred bucks, while still making a profit, so they have a dollar camera for fifty bucks, but if it gives you the results you seek and solidifies your hipster cred it’s worth it.
I was ironic long before that was a good thing and I still think this cult around a bad camera is crazy, but I’ve been roaming this site for hours. When I discovered that they had a Diana F+ Lens Adaptor that is compatible with the Canon EOS and Nikon F Series and allows those fine cameras to take pictures with many of the faults of the original that cost a buck, I realized I was completely out of my league. I had no idea that irony could be nearly that insane, and I salute them.
Still want one of those Russian TLR (Two-Lens Reflex) cameras. I miss adjusting for parallax.