Comment by yawpitch

Paper negatives are interesting, but yes even when you’ve got a subject that sits still long enough and the camera is on a really steady tripod the result will still be a lot less than critically sharp when printed because the paper diffuses any light passed through it. Cheaper than film, but but vastly sharper than paper, are wet plate collodion processes like anbrotypes and tintypes, though you’ll either have to make (or have made) a back appropriate for glass or metal as the substrate.