Voigtländer Metal Daguerreotype Camera

Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Voigtländer, the grandson of the company founder, recognised the importance of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre's invention of photography with a brilliant eye in 1839. Together with the mathematician Josef Maximilián Petzval, Voigtländer created the world's first scientifically calculated photographic lens as early as 1840, which, with the then fantastic light intensity of f/3.7, surpassed the Chevallier landscape lens used by Daguerre by a factor of 16. The exposure time for portraits was thus reduced from the previous 20 minutes in good daylight to 1.5 to 2 minutes. In the sun, it was even possible to take “snapshots” with an exposure time of 45 seconds.

In the same year, Voigtländer launched a camera for this lens that went down in the history of photography as the world's first metal camera. The model was machined from brass on a lathe and for the first time was equipped with a lens adjustment by means of a rack and pinion. The fact that photography did not stop at its beginnings, but found countless interested parties even in the early years, is also thanks to the outstanding pioneering work of Voigtländer, who paved the way for photography to achieve its current significance with his inventive vision.

The Voigtländer metal camera is one of the absolute rarities in the history of photography. Today, the 10-15 known cameras are almost exclusively to be admired in museums. This is an extremely rare opportunity to acquire such a camera in fantastic condition.

The rack and pinion drive and the rear lens element have probably been replaced at some point. The tripod is a later original Voigtländer replica.
The camera is otherwise in extremely beautiful original condition, with no major dents or damage to the body or lens.

Included: "Verhandlungen des niederösterreichischen Gewerbe-Vereins (Proceedings of the Lower Austrian Trade Association)", fifth issue, published in November 1841, which describes the Voigtländer camera: "Beschreibung des Voigtländerschen Apparates zur Darstellung photographischer Porträte, nach der Berechnung des Herrn Professor Dr. Petzval (Description of the Voigtländer apparatus for the representation of photographic portraits, according to the calculations of Professor Dr. Petzval)“. The last page, folded in half, depicts the camera with the words "Voigtländer's Apparat zur Darstellung photographischer Portraite (Voigtländer's apparatus for the representation of photographic portraits)“.
Copy of "Anweisung zum Gebrauche des neuen Daguerreotyp-Apparates zum Portraitiren, nach der Berechnung des Herrn Professor Petzval, ausgeführt von Voigtländer & Sohn (Instructions for the use of the new Daguerreotype apparatus for portraiture, according to the calculations of Professor Petzval, manufactured by Voigtländer & Son)".

Serial Number: 27
Production Year: 1840