Own a piece of photographic history: Ansel Adams’ 4x5” view camera to be auctioned off

Ansel Adams was without doubt one of the most influential America landscape photographers of all time. Besides being regarded as one of the inventors of the Zone System that allows to determine proper exposure all the way from capturing a photograph to its print, his meticulous eye for tonal nuances helped shape the face of black-and-white landscape photography for generations to come.

One of the cameras that he used in the sixties to create some of his famous photographs (including Arches, North Court, Mission San Xavier del Baca) was an Arca Swiss large format view camera, capable of exposing negatives with a size of 4x5 inches. The camera, which he used between 1965 and 1968, was later passed on to his assistant Liliane DeCock, who then used it throughout her entire career. When she passed away in 2013, the camera was inherited by her son, and has since been part of the DeCock Morgan collection.

That very Arca Swiss view camera is now going to be auctioned off by Revival Auctions, together with various other items from the collection that belonged, among others, to Liliane DeCock, her husband Douglas Morgan and her father-in-law Willard Morgan. Other notable lots include DeCock's Zeiss 15mm f/8 Hologon lens, her Leica M5 as well as Douglas Morgan's post-war Leica IIIc camera.

The auction is to be held on July 9, 2014, and prospective bidders can still register online. If you'd like to own a piece of American photographic history, be ready to grab deeply into your pockets, as Adams' Arca Swiss is expected to sell for $300,000 or more. But maybe it's just a classic Leica or Zeiss lens that you're looking for? Take a look at the auction's catalog, chances are you'll find something more affordable for you collection -- or to actually put to use again.

(via The Phoblographer)