On the contrary, we have documents from the early 1800's which are very readable on microfilm and we get good copies. Of course, it depends upon the condition of the document in the first place. We have to adhere to strict guidelines when filming and cannot dispose without the go-ahead of the State Historical Commission - and that is after they have looked over the archival copy of our film.
As far as daguerrotype, well, I'm not an expert on the the evolution of photography, so I couldn't tell you anything about that. :)
On the contrary, we have documents from the early 1800's which are very readable on microfilm and we get good copies. Of course, it depends upon the condition of the document in the first place. We have to adhere to strict guidelines when filming and cannot dispose without the go-ahead of the State Historical Commission - and that is after they have looked over the archival copy of our film. All depends on how well the film is made. Documents which are being archived for the purpose of preserving a good quality copy of the original will probably do pretty well. Documents which are thrown on microfilm because regulation XYZ says to do so even though nobody ever looks at them anyway may not do so well.