Cameras & Camera Equipment

The invention of the megalethoscope by the Swiss-Italian optician and photographer Carlo Ponti greatly enhanced the experience of viewing photographs.

Austin Farahar, head of cameras and photography at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium), was recently contacted by a budding documentary photographer in Vienna who had received a collection of old cameras from his in-laws.

Knowledgeable bidders generated high prices for early typewriters at German technology specialist’s latest sale

Spanning two sessions at Leitz Photographica in Vienna on November 24-25 are consignments from the personal collection of the late Yul Brynner (1920-1985) via his daughter Victoria.

Leica cameras of rather different dimensions to normal clicked into action at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium).

The prototype B1 Vulcan first flew in 1952 and it is a sign of the design’s longevity and durability that the last of these bombers was taken out of service only in 1984.

The Leica I debuted at the 1925 Leipzig Spring Fair at a time when it was still common for glass plates to be used in cameras.

Photographica is back on Sunday, May 22, at the Royal Horticultural Society in London.

It was supposedly as a result of a bet whether it was possible to make a camera that could fit into a cigarette packet that Noel Pemberton Billing (1881-1948) began work on a miniature, collapsible camera that would accept 35mm film.

North Yorkshire saleroom Tennants is selling this Kemp & Co field camera with ‘tropical’ mahogany casing and brass fittings, with an estimate of £150-250.

The Fine Photographica sale at Flints in Thatcham, Berkshire, on April 23 includes this Ansco Photo Vanity 'spy' camera, estimated at £800-1200.

The name Abbey Road has gone far beyond its significance as a smart street in north London thanks to renowned music studios and a seminal album

A rare ‘pocket watch’ sold by East Bristol Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) was more surveillance device than timekeeper.

Fine examples lead an array of scientific instruments and photographica at specialist sale

Trudpert Schneider (1804-99), a Freiburg carpenter whose first brush with photography was to repair a broken box camera, is today deemed one of Germany’s most important daguerreotypists. The photographic firm he founded in 1847 continued under the management of his sons Heinrich and Wilhelm until 1921.

In an age of cumbersome large photographical apparatus, the race was on in the mid-19th century to produce practical small, easily portable cameras.

Photographica 2019 is a destination for collectors of classic cameras. The fair hosts up to 135 tables for buying, selling and swapping classic and antique cameras from across the country.