It was more of a projector than a camera, and the image had to be traced by the observer in order to be captured. The first portable model was made in the late 1600s and was used as a drawing aid.
Plate Cameras
Plate Cameras are really defined by the type of film they originally used rather than the actual characteristics of the camera itself. 'Plate' refers to the sensitized photographic sheet used to take the image. The earliest plate cameras used metal plates.
Film Cameras
In the late 1880s, George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company, developed roll film. The 1940s saw the invention of the eye-level viewfinder.
Instant Camera
Edwin Land revealed the first commercially available instant camera in 1948. The instant camera creates a developed image on film within minutes. This was the first type of camera to allow users to see photographs immediately, allowing to retake the photograph if they did not like the first one.
Digital Camera
The first digital camera was introduced in 1988 by Fuji. Digital cameras work by recording images with an electronic image sensor and saving them to a memory-card storage device. The images can then be downloaded from the storage device to a computer. Most digital cameras today accomplish what originally made the instant camera unique—the ability to view photographs immediately after taking them—as well as the added feature of being able to save or delete the photo.