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.
World’s Oldest Camera To Go On Auction [BornRich]
