Silas Eastham was born in Mellor, near Blackburn, Lancashire in about 1824. Eastham became a painter of miniatures before branching into the new technology of photography. In 1845, only months after the first daguerreotypes were printed in France, Eastham went into partnership with Robert Holt in Preston, opening a daguerreotype gallery. He is likely to be the city’s first photographer. Eastham’s partnership with Holt soon dissolved, but he continued working in Preston and Blackburn for a short time. He may have been joined by his elder brother, John Eastham, who also worked as a photographer in the North West. Eastham’s marriage records from 1850 identified him as an artist living in Blackpool. By 1852, he is known to have been operating a photographic business in central Manchester with his brother John. This business has addresses at 22 St Ann’s Square and (perhaps later), 7 Market Street, until at least 1868. Silas Eastham is recorded as having premises at 217 Lord St, Southport, Lancashire from 1868 – 1884, when he transferred the business to his son-in-law, James Yoxall. Silas Eastham seems to have remained active, however, with the last known mention of his work dating to 1890.

John Eastham was a 19th century photographer based in Manchester, who was briefly in partnership with Alexander Bassano of London. Eastham is first recorded as delivering a lecture and demonstration on the new "science" of photography for the Institution for the Diffusion of Knowledge in Preston, Lancashire in January 1846. In February of 1849 he was advertising that his services for customers wishing to commission photographs of landscapes in Switzerland and Italy. In December of that year he was also promoting his services as a portrait photographer, and was based in Blackpool. Eastham may have been working with his younger brother Silas at this time, and the two were known to be in partnership in 1852. Eastham seems to have got into financial difficulties in Preston, with claims being lodged against him by creditors in 1854. By June 1857, his fortunes seem to have revived, as he was advertising himself as "Photographer to the Queen" and had premises above a shop at 22 St Ann's Square, Manchester. Advertisements from this time focus on portrait photography. Eastham died in Birkenhead in 1889.

Warwick Brookes was a well-known Manchester photographer and designer of cameras. Brookes' father (of the same name) was a famous sketch artist who became interested in photography. He opened a studio in Manchester in 1864, mainly for carte-de-visite work. Little is known of Brookes' early life but he joined his father in the studio in 1869. His father moved to premises on Oxford Road but he stayed at Victoria Terrace, moving round the corner to 30 and then 22 Victoria Street. In 1881, Brookes designed a camera he called the Academy. It was patented (no. 13,549) in October and he had it made by Joshua Billcliff, in Manchester. As the address given in the patent application is 350 Oxford Road, presumably he was working there more regularly as his father was in poor health. The Academy was probably the first 'pocket' twin-lens magazine camera. Marion's of Soho, London, sold it from about January 1882. The first Academy cameras were for very small plates, 1.5 inches square (3.8cm), and the user loaded twelve of these plates into a plate changing box in the darkroom. When a plate was required, the camera was turned upside down and a plate dropped through a spring-loaded light-tight aperture. Releasing a small knob closed the aperture and the camera turned right way up. After exposure, the plate was returned to the magazine box by releasing a knob at the back of the camera. Once all twelve plates were exposed, the magazine box could be removed from the base of the camera with its light-tight lid and a new box loaded. Brookes took over the whole family business on his father's death in 1882, closing the Victoria Street studio four years later. In 1885, the Amateur Photographer ran a long article on the Academy camera, which now came in four sizes. The article included a testimonial from Captain James Peters of the Royal Canadian Artillery who had used a No. 4 during the Rice Rebellion of Indians in Saskatchewan. The article raised interest in the camera and V. C. Driffield made an improvement to it, after consulting Brookes. This was to add a mirror at an angle to the focusing screen and a hole drilled in the top of the camera at the back. This modification made the Academy a true twin-lens reflex camera. It sold well until the 1890s when McKellen and Miller brought out more sophisticated cameras. Warwick Brookes died in 1929. His son and grandson kept on the business on Oxford Road until 1940.

Heath & Bullingham of 24 George Street, Plymouth. Trade directories show a William Heath and later Heath & Bullingham operating around the period 1866 - 1883. In 1890 the partnership was dissolved when Bullingham resigned. Heath carried on, recruiting photographer Albert Steer and his own son to run the photography studio.