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In the beginning...
The first photograph was made in 1826 by Joseph Nicephore Niepce using a sliding wooden box camera. It was made by Charles and Vincent Chevalier in Paris. Niepce built on a discovery by Johann Heinrich Schultz (1724). They used a silver and chalk mixture which darkens when exposed to light.
The very first camera that was portable enough to be practical for photography was built by Johann Zahn in 1685. However, it would be almost 150 years before technology caught up to the point where this was possible. Early photographic cameras were essentially similar to Zahn's model, though usually with the addition of sliding boxes for focusing.
The wet-plate ambrotype and tintype processes were in widespread use in the latter half of the 19th century. Wet plate cameras were little different from previous designs. However, there were some models where the sensitizing and developing of the plates could be carried out inside the camera itself rather than in a separate darkroom. Other cameras were fitted with multiple lenses. It was during this era that the use of bellows for focusing became widespread.
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