As the school term ends, most of us will now be looking forward to our summer holiday.

If there is one essential we nearly all pack, it has to be the camera.

The camera made its first appearance in the first half of the 19th century, but was not produced on a large scale until nearer the end of the century.

The Victorians' love for innovation and novelty ensured that the world of photography developed quickly into a passion.

The first commercial cameras were designed by L.J.M.

Daguerre and made by Alphonse Giroux in Paris in around 1840.

These early cameras were very basic - focusing was made possible by sliding a smaller box (containing the lens) in and out of a larger box.

They were not intended to be hand-held and were made of weighty brass and wood.

Ten years later, the bellows camera appeared - its folding sides (which looked like bellows) made focusing easier and this design, which was patented in 1851, revolutionised camera design.

Inside each camera there was a single 'wet plate' which needed a long time to expose and added to the weight.

This was later replaced by the gelatin dry plate and made the possibility of hand-held cameras a reality.

Soon cameras were being sold which could hold up to as many as 12 plates.

However, across the Atlantic, a company called Eastman Walker was developing revolutionary, new, photographic technology.

This was based not on separate plates, but on one continuous band of plates - the film.

In 1888, Eastman invented the Kodak box camera which was sold with a pre-loaded film of 100 exposures.

These early cameras can be collected for their decorative value alone.

Age is not the only criterion for value in the collectable camera market.

Much more important are the make, manufacturer, the camera's quality and innovation.

Even some relatively young cameras have a collectable following.

Between the turn of this century and the mid 1940s, there were few new developments in the world of photography and the British camera market was stagnant.

However, after the Second World War, the Japanese injected new life into the development of the camera.

These Japanese cameras of the post war years are widely collected for their high quality and innovation.

As photojournalists from all over the world descended on the Far East to cover the Korean War, they quickly recognized the calibre of manufacturers like Canon and Nikon.

Such examples today could be worth many hundreds of pounds.

Names to look out for include Canon, Nikon, Eastman Kodak and Houghton Ensign as well as German manufacturers Zeiss and Leica.

New collectors would be well advised to have a good look around and to read up on old cameras before embarking on a buying trip.

Many old cameras are sold for more than £50 so mistakes could be expensive!

l Collectables is compiled by experts at GB Antiques Centre, Lancaster.

The centre is open daily from 10am - 5pm.