Madeira Optics Museum — Attraction in Funchal

A beautifully and carefully laid out museum in Funchal featuring a vast collection mainly consisting of cameras along with many binoculars, telescopes, and so on. Depending on your age this will either be a trip down memory lane or will open your eyes to a whole new (old) world of how photography used to be done.

Once you've explored the camera, video camera, and binocular collection downstairs, head upstairs to see telescopes and photo developing equipment. There are also old films from Madeira projected onto the wall here, providing enormous historical interest - and comfy sofas to relax on while you watch! There's 20-30 minutes worth of viewing so a good chance to relax. Everything is clearly and informatively labelled in the exhibits.

The museum is compact but has so much in it. You could do it in an hour but we happily spent two hours there. What really made it for us was the passion, enthusiasm, and friendliness of the owner/curator, who clearly had a real knowledge of the material. If you've any interest at all in optics this is definitely...

Really nice new museum in the heart of the city. Don't juge it by its size, because it is very dense and interesting! Driven by a passionate team, the museum exposes all kind of optics-related device (film camera, telescope, movie recorders...). There is also a small shop at the entrance for anyone interested in finding and buying old camera. The museum may get bigger in the future, that will make it even better....

A great collection spanning from binoculars, crazy & tiny 17,5mm film cameras, video projectors, telescopes and even stereoscopic imagery as well as enlargers. Huge selection of 135 and 120 cameras.

Well worth a visit and Sergio, the owner, is great to talk to and nerd about everything that...