Topic: There's a new "World's Most Expensive Camera"

[Ed Wenn]

Courtesy of The Online Photographer - always an excellent read:

"The final hammer has just fallen at the 17th WestLicht Photographica Auction in Vienna, Austria, and there's a new "World's Most Expensive Camera" - an 1839 Daguerreotype Giroux (above) was sold for EUR732,000, premiums included (approximately $899,000 and GBP622,000 at today's exchange rates). It is the most ever paid for a camera. (Alphonse Giroux was the brother-in-law of Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, inventor of the Daguerreotype - and generally credited as the primary inventor of photography, although the full story is more interesting.) WestLicht expert Michel Auer stated that all other Giroux cameras are in public museums."

[Francois]

899,000$ for a box of pine with the inside painted black... I can do that

[Miller]

I wondered what it would go for.. The estimate was 500,000 - 700,000 euros, though I'm not sure the auction house knew the exact date of manufacture.

Mlr

[original_ann]

Hmmm... and what is this person going to do with their camera? How does one treat an $899,000 purchase??

[moominsean]

stencil the word "diana" on it and you could get another $400 or so.

[Ed Wenn]

stencil the word "diana" on it and you could get another $400 or so.

Agreed. I really think they missed a trick. They could so have pimped this before listing it to fit in with the prevailing Lomocentric aesthetic.

[edthened]

899,000$ for a box of pine with the inside painted black... I can do that

Och ay, but ye getta free lens wi it inclooded in re price, so ther       

[Ed Wenn]

But it is the free lens multi-coated? Didn't think so. I'd swap it out in a heartbeat for something more modern like one of these:



Having said that, I'm not sure what format the camera is, but I seriously doubt you'll be able to get the right format film for it these days. Not from Boots or Jessops anyway.

Total dud if you ask me. The joke is so on the buyer.
 

[Francois]

They'll probably put it under a plexiglass box on a table and amortize the cost of the camera over a few years on their income tax.

And don't worry about the camera getting used, it won't. Most of these people either have their own photographers or do like Philippe Kahn (the inventor of the cameraphone) and only shoot with their phone when it is required...

I don't know but I often have a feeling that the very rich are not much into photography as it doesn't bring more money in their bank account and takes time to do  (time=money)

[Rafael Morales]

I was just reading about this camera. Onhttp://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Le_Daguerreotype on camerapedia where it has been a featured article for awhile. "In 2007 it was sold in an auction for a record price of 580,000 Euros. "

[gothamtomato]

Hmmm...Years ago I worked in a camera store that had one of those on display (it was on display as just decor because no one was interested in buying it). Now I'm kicking myself.

That store has since gone out of business. I wonder whatever happened to it.