About Arsenal Photo
Established in 1994 as a small shop in Nuremberg, Arsenal Photo has been a leading specialist dealer in vintage and collectible photographic equipment for many years. In 1998, the company made a pioneering move into online retail.
Today, we curate rare cameras and lenses from historic brands such as Leica, Hasselblad, Zeiss, Canon, Nikon and ship them to collectors worldwide.
From Nuremberg old town to global reach
In October 1994, company founder Boris Jamchtchik opened his first shop at Kornmarkt 7 in Nuremberg's Old Town, just a few steps away from the Germanic National Museum.
From day one, the focus was exclusively on second‑hand cameras and vintage collectables. Over the years, the business expanded across several Nuremberg locations, including Klaragasse 8, Altenfurter Str. 16a and later Pillenreuther Str., as the volume of trading and the need for logistics space grew.
What began as a local specialist outlet for Franconian customers and travelling collectors soon became a destination for serious enthusiasts of analogue medium‑format and large‑format photography. The original Foto Arsenal shop in the city centre developed a reputation as a "mecca" for rare equipment and hard‑to‑find lenses.
Arsenal Photo - A pioneer in online vintage camera retail
In 1998, long before e‑commerce became standard in the camera trade, Photo Arsenal recognised the potential of the internet and launched one of the first dedicated online shops for high‑end used cameras.
Through platforms such as Yahoo Auctions and eBay, the catchment area exploded overnight. Collectors in the USA, Japan and across Europe could suddenly bid on the same Leica M bodies, pre‑war lenses and special‑edition cameras.
Because genuine collector’s items are extremely rare, this global reach immediately translated into competitive bidding and transparent market pricing.
Within a few years, Photo Arsenal evolved from a Nuremberg high‑street shop into one of the largest and highest‑rated eBay sellers of historic photographic equipment. The company had an active store and a reputation for accurate descriptions and careful packing.
From shop counter to logistics and cataloguing centre
The rise of online retail fundamentally changed the way the original Nuremberg premises were used. Traditional walk‑in trade at Kornmarkt and later Klaragasse increasingly took a back seat to cataloguing, photographing and securely dispatching valuable goods worldwide.
As export volumes grew, the company outgrew the constraints of the Old Town.
This success directly led to the move to larger logistics and administrative sites, most notably to Altenfurter Str. 16a and, later, to Pillenreuther Str. These sites offered the advantage of combining offices, storage and packing areas under one roof for international shipping and returns handling.
Expansion into Asia: Hong Kong branch
By 2007, demand from Asia for rare Leica, Hasselblad and special‑edition cameras had become so strong that Photo Arsenal opened its own branch in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong office, headed by Mr. Wong, was located at Mirror Tower, 61 Mody Road, Kowloon and serves as a key hub for sourcing and customer service in the region.
Thanks to its presence in Asia, Arsenal Photo was able to respond quickly to enquiries from collectors in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and mainland China. The company has maintained the same high standards of authentication and packaging that earned it an excellent reputation in Europe and North America.
In-house precision repair workshop & quality control
In 2018, Arsenal Photo integrated its own precision camera workshop into the business to meet the high standards of serious collectors. Experienced technicians now inspect every camera body and lens, checking shutter speeds, focusing mechanisms, aperture blades and optical performance before an item is listed for sale. This means that buyers receive not only a rare piece of photographic history, but also an honest technical assessment based on rigorous in‑house testing, rather than unverified claims.
The workshop plays a key role in ensuring that the Leica, Hasselblad, Zeiss and Nikon equipment offered by Arsenal Photo meets the expectations of advanced users and museum-level collectors.
Relocation of the company to Zell am See, Austria
In 2010, Photo Arsenal relocated its headquarters to Zell am See in the Salzburg region of Austria. Moving into the Alps coincided with our transition to an online business model, enabling us to specialise in sourcing, preparing and presenting exceptional vintage cameras and lenses for clients around the world.
What Arsenal Photo offers today
Today, we operate as a discreet boutique specialising in museum-grade vintage cameras, lenses, and photographic accessories. Every piece in our collection is individually selected, expertly evaluated and presented as part of a tightly curated portfolio of rare and historically valuable equipment.
Our current selection
Our current selection spans the entire history of analogue photography.
Leica heritage in depth:
From early screw‑mount bodies and M‑mount rangefinders to R‑mount SLRs, Leica replicas and rare prototype and experimental cameras.
Medium‑format and system cameras:
Hasselblad bodies and lenses, Rollei models (including Rollei 35 and twin‑lens reflex), CONTAX 645 and other medium‑format systems that defined professional photography in the 20th century.
Classic 35mm and rangefinder systems:
Zeiss Ikon Contax, Tenax and Nettax rangefinders, Contarex and CONTAX/Yashica, Canon rangefinders and SLRs, Ihagee Exakta and Japan SLR systems from makers such as Pentax, Olympus, Konica/Minolta and others.
Specialist and regional rarities:
Soviet cameras, British and French manufacturers, Italian and Chinese vintage cameras, Meopta Opema, and other niche systems sought after by advanced collectors.
Large‑format, tropical and specialist constructions:
Antique wood and tropical cameras, large‑format systems, panorama and stereo‑photography cameras, miniature and spy cameras, movie cameras and mixed medium‑format ensembles that rarely appear on the open market.
To complement this, Arsenal Photo maintains a broad yet carefully curated range of vintage and collectible lenses. These include high-quality optics from renowned brands, including rangefinder and SLR lenses, as well as medium- and large-format designs. The emphasis is on desirable focal lengths, classic rendering and historically significant optical formulas, all of which are tested and described in detail.
In addition to sales, we offer a discreet acquisition service for private collections and exceptional individual pieces. Collectors, photographers and estates can submit details and photographs of their Leica, Hasselblad, Nikon, Zeiss and other notable equipment via our Sell Your Camera Gear service. A specialist will then provide a transparent, market-based valuation and purchase offer within 24 hours.
For serious collectors and institutions seeking thoroughly tested vintage equipment with a documented provenance, Arsenal Photo offers decades of market expertise, a global reach, and a deliberately narrow, high-end focus.
From a single specialist shop in Nuremberg in 1994 to today's worldwide boutique, the company has remained at the forefront of trading rare and historically important cameras and lenses.
