There has been a number of amazing Nikon film cameras over the years, with the Nikon F3HP arguably reigning supreme. But if you are a collector, there is one Nikon you definitely want to get your glove-covered hands on – the Nikon 1 rangefinder.

According to Digital Photography Review, the oldest Nikon camera known the be in existence recently sold at an auction in Austria for a staggering €384 000 (approximately R5 686 500), double the expected price. With good reason, since the camera in question is actually the 3^rd Nikon body ever produced. Built in 1948, and stamped “Made in Occupied Japan”, it came boxed with a collapsible 50mm F2 Nikkor H lens, the 11^th copy that rolled off the production line. There are claims that only 738 Nikon 1 bodies were ever manufactured.

Nikon was established on 25 July 1917, known as Nippon Kogaku K.K. They were producing lenses for Canon, as well as assisted with a camera called the Hansa-Canon in 1935, but the Nikon 1 was officially the first produced under the Nikon brand.

It’s fair to say that the Nikon 1 can’t quite measure up to today’s digital monsters, with its cloth shutter only offering shutter speeds of 1/500 second, 1/30 second, 1/20 second and one second, albeit with time and bulb modes also included. While we are sure the model on auction is in working condition, spare a thought for the buyer who now also has to find 24mm x 32mm film, a non-standard offering that is smaller than the more common 24mm x 36mm film. Although, having just coughed up over R5 million, we’re sure he/she will have a bit of spare change lying around.