I am working on building my first cam now. I would not think you could build one for $60. My issue with 35mm cameras is all the processing costs and film. I have the cuddeback digital camera. In 6 days it took 26 pictures and 14 short videos. It cost me exactly $0 to get these pictures developed. My only cost is batteries. This camera seems to eat them up pretty good but the home brews seem to get about 6 months for the controller board with ONE 9volt battery. The Sony P32 camera I have heard will take about 300 pictures with just 2 AA batteries. As I see it you can spend the money up front and then only have to buy batteries OR you can spend $10 a week all summer every year to get pictures developed.[:'(] For me I like to see my pics right away and not be spending more money all the time.

So with that being said you will have to spend about $250 to build your own Digital camera but you will save money in the long run.