Cameras of the 1830s

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre announced the daguerreotype process in 1839, producing mirror-like images on silver-coated copper plates. Each exposure took several minutes, limiting subjects to architecture and still life.

Simultaneously, William Henry Fox Talbot developed the calotype — a paper negative process that, unlike the daguerreotype, could be reproduced. These twin inventions launched photography as both art and technology.