Yes you can use it as just a normal camera, the estimated cost for the camera I heard was about $229ish and the modem is bought separately for about $159ish but the coolest part the rep told me is that you sign up for a year contract and you only have to pay for 9 months of it, you can shut it off for 3 months of your choice, Plus when you go over your monthly limit of getting pics sent it just automatically saves the pics to a card in the unit.