Photography history is filled with all sorts of weird and wonderful things, from iconic photos to incredible photography gear. Today’s featured video tackles the latter. Canadian film photographer Kyle McDougall talks about some of the rarest, weirdest and most expensive film cameras ever sold at auctions.
“After doing a deep dive recently on some auction sites, I was fascinated by a world of film gear that I never knew existed,” he said in his video description. Among these interesting goodies include the world’s most expensive lens, some space cameras and a ridiculously priced Leica. There’s even a camera built for a pigeon!
He begins by sharing an interesting bit of Leica history. He gave an example of rare film photography gear that certainly warrants a hefty price tag. Out of the 22 copies of the Leica prototype 0-series that Oskar Barnack made in 1923, only around a dozen survived to this day. Among them is No. 105, Barnack’s personal copy, which sold for a staggering hammer price of €14.4 million (US $15.04 million). This makes it by far the most expensive camera ever sold.
What about you, what was the priciest, weirdest, or rarest film camera you ever bought? Which of these weird and wonderful pieces of photography technology and history would you bid for, if money was no object? Tell us about it in the comments below, or in our group discussion if you’re already part of the Photofocus Community!
