The primary advantage of the disposable camera is in the fact
that it costs only $4 (when taking pictures in the Sierras, I
saw a family that had a dozen disposable cameras in the trunk of
the car - much lighter weight than the mass of stuff I was
lugging around, and $4 is something you can let a child carry
(and use) without biting your nuckles when he or she wants to
use a camera). These cameras are often optimized for a single
purpose - some even are made for underwater photography. The
disposable camera is also commonly available in places where one
wishes to have a camera for the 24 exposures.  The $10-$50 35mm
point and shoot cameras have slightly higher quality optics as
the disposable ones which is especially noticeable in the
viewfinder (which is more than a hole in the box). Beyond this
fact, the other advantage of the 'almost disposable' cameras is
they have a wider range of film available to them (print and
slide, black and white and color, 32 to 1600 speed). It takes
far less volume in a pack to