Despite the dominance of digital photography, film cameras remain highly sought after by both photographers and collectors. Much of their popularity lies in the unique rich tones and subtle grain giving a nostalgic feel to the images. Many enjoy the more deliberate process of shooting on film, where each frame matters. This makes film cameras very desirable and with demand continuing to grow this is the perfect time to sell.

For over a Century, Leica has set the standard of camera engineering. The very first ‘Leitz’ camera, created by Oskar Barnack in 1914, paved the way for 35mm photography as we know it. Each Leica is carefully assembled by hand in small batches by skilled technicians using top-quality materials, resulting in cameras renowned for their durability and exceptional image quality. Their robust design appeals to photographers who appreciate the craft of manual photography, and this meticulous engineering contributes to their premium price, which still holds up to this day.

Many Leica cameras are valuable because they are viewed as collectors’ items due to their cultural significance and the fact that they have been a key part in recording history, taking iconic pictures such as Times Square kiss on VJ Day and the shot entitled ‘Champ’ of Muhammad Ali.

In our most recent Fine Art Auction on the 26^th September we sold six Leica examples realising a staggering combined £5,700 (plus Buyers Premium). Leica cameras can range in value, the cheapest used Leica models are usually the Leica R series, on the other end of the scale a Leica O-Series from 1923 was sold at auction in June 2022 for 12€ million, making it the most expensive camera ever sold!

While Leica often takes centre stage in conversation about vintage photography, they are not the only cameras with value. More well-known brands such as Nikon, Canon and Olympus dominated the market in the 1960s and 70s and can also be worth quite a bit, examples such as the Nikon FM or FE, Canon A-1 and Olympus OM10, can still fetch upwards of £50-100 depending on condition and lenses.

Speaking of lenses, these are often overlooked with cameras, but they shouldn’t be, as lenses in good condition can be worth more than the camera body they are on. High end lenses use carefully engineered glass elements to produce sharp, vibrant images with a beautiful depth of field, and many classic designs are no longer being manufactured making their demand still high but their availability increasingly limited. Certain features can add even more value such as uncommon focal lengths and those with wide apertures making them more effective in low light, giving them greater versatility.

Because of an ever-growing demand, vintage cameras and lenses continue to perform extremely well at auction. Well-kept equipment especially with original boxes and documentation attracts competitive bidding. Whether you have a single camera tucked away in a drawer or an entire photographer's kit we are always happy to take a look and is always worth having it appraised, we always invite consignments for our upcoming auctions, and a free valuation is available from Monday to Friday between 9am and 4pm.