What is thought to be the world's oldest camera is to be sold by auction in Vienna on May 26. Dating back to 1839, the Daguerreotype, encased in a sliding wooden box frame, was made by Susse Freres of Paris.

The camera belongs to a US-based scholar and was inherited from his father, a technical photography professor at Munich University. The starting bid is $132,000, but the final price for the 168-year-old gadget is expected to be way past a million euros ($1,329,000).

All the amazing technical specs are after the jump.

Daguerrotype photography, which lasted only about a decade, produced a direct image onto a polished silver surface, which meant that no copies could be made, as there were no negatives.

Technical Specs

1 gazillion Megapixels
1 Tripod
1 Black curtain
1 Free top hat with every camera sold (probably)
1 Lens cap
No Zoom
No Autofocus
No Red-eye
No Image stabilization
No Noise reduction
No GPS EXIF information
No Battery
No Carrying Case

Magnesium powder not included. – Ad Dugdale

World's Oldest Camera To Go On Auction [BornRich]

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