Detailed photos of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s Leica IIIa, the camera that he used to shoot the iconic V-J Day in Times Square photo.

The camera that American photojournalist Alfred Eisenstaedt used to shoot the iconic V-J Day in Times Square photo is up for auction in Europe.

Preview* of V-J Day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstaedt, view the larger version on LIFE.

Eisenstaedt’s Leica IIIa was still in use fifty years after the V-J Day photo was taken, when he photographed the US President Bill Clinton in 1993. The rangefinder is up for auction together with Eisenstaedt’s Leica Summitar 5cm f/2.0 lens and VIOOH viewfinder, and is expected to sell for between €20,000 to €25,000, although at the time of writing the highest bid is already sitting at €22,000, almost a month before the actual auction will be taking place.

Here’s a few photographs of the beautiful Leica IIIa, courtesy of WestLicht Photographica Auction.

Photographs of the camera courtesy of WestLicht Photographica Auction, and shared with permission.

Via The Verge.

*Fair use rationale: The article is about the camera that shot this photo. Only a small preview was used, and as such should cause no harm to the copyright holder. Source of the image.