Who invented the first camera?

Alexander Wolcott invented and patented the first camera in 1840. He also opened the first photography studio in New York the same year. Wolcott was a dentist and machinist by trade.

This camera used a concave mirror instead of a lens, and it used Louis Daguerre’s process of chemical developing. Wolcott and John Johnson both worked on the invention. Johnson’s father obtained permission to use Daguerre’s chemical process for photo developing. Using Daguerre’s process with this new invention reduced sitting time for successful portraiture by 25 minutes. In 1842, Wolcott again reduced the sitting time for portraits with his new chemical mixture, called Wolcott’s mixture.