Cameras & Camera Equipment

With technology changing rapidly, early cameras are increasingly taking on historic status. The 25 0-Series Leica cameras created in 1923 are among the rarest models and have previously broken records when they appear on the market.

Operating at a lower price point, there’s no shortage of collectors for vintage cameras and associated equipment. Specialist dealers operate in this field and a number of auction houses hold regular sales devoted to this category offering items including forerunners to the camera such as magic lanterns, zeotropes and praxinoscopes.


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Firm interest in film cameras

05 May 2025

Specialist dealer attending photographic fair tells ATG about the latest trends in this market

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Top stories this week including a Leica prototype which could break the auction record for any camera

23 March 2025

The most viewed stories on this website over the last week included news of a prototype for Leica’s first mass-produced compact camera coming for sale.

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Collector interview: how an enthusiasm for cameras developed from childhood

17 March 2025

Australian-born concert pianist, composer, arranger, writer, artist and photographer Robert Weatherburn collects cameras as one of his hobbies. Here he tells ATG about his collecting

Leica 0-series

Prototype of first Leica compact camera expected to break record at auction

12 March 2025

The Leica I was the first mass-produced Leica. One of its prototypes, the 0-series, heads to auction this summer

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First die-cast Leica camera comes up

18 November 2024

The first-ever Leica die-cast camera, dating to 1933-34 and created by the Oskar Barnack, the father of modern 35mm photography, appeared as a landmark lot in the sixth sale from Wetzlar Camera Auctions (21.01% buyer’s premium) - held in the hometown of the manufacturer.

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French magic lantern and camera lens impress in Texas

03 June 2024

The French toymaker Georges Carette (1861-1954) is thought to have learned how to make magic lanterns from the Paris specialist maker August Lapierre.

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Photographica fair: market develops in different ways

29 April 2024

One of the exhibitors at this month’s Photographica says ‘point and shoot’ cameras are in demand

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Rare British camera emerges from Viennese source

15 April 2024

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.

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Science & technology: Collectors who know their type

15 April 2024

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

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Photographic viewing device can operate all day and night

15 April 2024

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

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Yul Brynner behind the lens at auction in Vienna

20 November 2023

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.

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Look at the big picture thanks to huge Leica dummy sales models

24 July 2023

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

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Vulcan cameras on buyers’ radar

20 February 2023

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.

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Leica: 225 is the magic number

27 June 2022

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.

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Event builds on resurgence in vintage cameras

09 May 2022

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

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Vanity for spies

18 April 2022

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

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Kemp & Co field camera comes to Yorkshire sale

18 April 2022

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

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Two versions of the Compass

18 April 2022

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.

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Entertainment memorabilia: Cover stories

05 April 2021

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

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Rare spy camera disguised as pocket watch from 1905 brings bidding battle between two museums

15 June 2020

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

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