The first fixed photo was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce with a wooden box camera made by Charles and Vincent Chevalier in Paris. Niépce is based on the discovery of Johann Heinrich Schultz (1724): a mixture of silver and chalk darkens when exposed to light. However, that was the beginning of photography, and cameras were even earlier. Before the invention of film, there was no way to capture images from cameras other than manually tracing them.
The first camera that was small and portable enough to take pictures was made by Johann Zahn in 1685, almost 150 years before technology was sufficient to produce photographs. Early cameras, like the Zahn’s, often included sliding in-and-out boxes for focusing. Each time an image is recorded, a light-sensitive plate is placed over the viewing screen. Jacques Daguerre’s daguerreotype process uses copper plate, and calotype process invented by William Fox Talbot is recorded on paper.
See more at: Life is like a camera poster
