A microphotograph of an extract from Dicken's A Christmas Carol by J. B. Dancer, the inventor of microphotography. The image consists of a wet collodion photograph on a microscope slide and is reduced by a factor of 1:160. The slide was coated with collodion and exposed through a microscope objective, which faced a full size glass negative illuminated from behind. After the exposure was developed, a cover slip was glued to the slide over the photograph and the excess collodion scraped off (Bracegirdle 1993).

Dancer made his first microphotograph only a few months after Daguerre announced his invention in 1839, but found that daguerreotypes didn't have fine enough grain to capture the necessary detail. When wet collodion, with its finer grain, was invented in 1851, Dancer immediately began experimenting with it. Shortly after, he began making and selling microphotographs. His 1873 catalog listed 277 slides with microphotographs of numerous subjects.

Dancer was a prolific inventor. In addition to microphotography, he invented the twin-lens stereocamera and the biunial magic lantern and made improvements to batteries, electroplating and wet collodion cameras. He was the first to use limelight as the light source for magic lanterns, which dramatically increased the reach of lantern shows. He worked with J. P. Joule, the English physicist, to make a thermometer for use in Joule's experiments with heat.

Unfortunately, Dancer was also a poor businessman. Most of his inventions weren't patented. As a result, others claimed precedence or made money from his work. When his eyesight failed in 1885, he was in dire straits and Joule sent out a request for contributions to support him (Bracegirdle 1993). He died two years later.