Old camera. The lens is at left, directing light onto the plate at the back of the concertina-like extension. This was pulled back when in operation to achieve the required focal length. It would be collapsed for storage and transport. The first photographs were recorded in the 1820s, but the technology did not develop fully until the 1840s. Early cameras like this were large devices using plates that had to be individually loaded and exposed. The first handheld cameras, using rolls of film, were developed in the 1880s.