Shrinking Books

If I wanted to create tiny but clear microform-esque prints of information such as books, mainly if not only text for now, how would one accomplish this? I want to be able to transport a physical backup stash of books or document collections on my person, in a container of similar size and volume as a smartphone or Altoid tin.

Depends how you want to go about it but you really can probably do this easiest going with microfilm because it would be in a roll which you may be able to set up a little viewer that you can scroll through the books. I found an instructable on microfilm but I think using a digital microfilm writer would likely save you some time and give higher quality images over photographing pages yourself if you already have ebook copies if not then that only adds extra steps if I understand correctly the process. https://www.instructables.com/Film-Hacking-The-Microfilm-Files/

Im not OP, last I looked at digital microfilm writers the things were darned expensive. If you happen to have access to one then great, or if you're willing to shell out a few 10s of thousands of usd then great, but otherwise other options are better. Maybe you can find one used but I think you'd have to be pretty lucky. Obviously, if you have an analog microfilm scanning setup, you can scan things you print on a digital printer.

You could print out information, as something like QR codes. A single QR code can hold up to 4,296 characters.

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Fiske_Reading_Machine https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Handheld_Reader

>>7951 while such apparati are fascinating, lain, they amount to microfilm readers. Our OP has inquired after means of producing such media, not means of its consumption. Personally Microfilm has the biggest appeal to me. I like the QR code idea but its not gonna be trivially legible (I guess microfilm isnt exactly either but closer). Its also concievably practical to setup a scanner most likely with avaliable equipment; a reader should be relatively reversible, and readers are cheap. Probably best to try first on cheap silver film and move the microfilm once you've got the process down. You'll have to buy film, but the film is commercially avaliable, and you can develop it more or less like any b/w silver film. Some tries may be required to get the highest possible resolution and consistent clarity. BW film is easy to develop at home and as you're not doing prints per se in this scenario, you won't have need for a darkroom proper, and the development requires only a few cheap and safe to handle chemicals. You'll need to be careful and assess each developed filmroll for legibility, of course. This is a timeconsuming process which regretably has harmed many public microfilm libraries' quality. There are some problems with robustness. I guess this is likely a big drawback, especially if you plan to keep your library on your person. I've not personally dealt much with microfilm directly, but other silver films can be damaged by humidity, curl in high temperature, and otherwise be harmed by climate. Seperate films can stick together if pressed close. Obviously with the very fine and delicate text you will need to be very careful about even minor damage. You would probably want to get your film in a well sealed container and keep it there, I know old movie films were stored in big tins with snug lids, this is most likely adequate and won't neccesitate the use of say onionskin paper between sheets. An altoids tin probably won't do, though I imagine a better made tin of similar size exists.

>>7858 If the source material is digital I'll bet you could rig up a mostly automated machine using a 90s era electronic SLR, some t-max, a 4k+ monitor and an arduino or something to hit the shutter release. Might not be compatible with the normal viewers, I'm sure the manufacturers would've used some form of vendor lockin to milk more of those sweet university dollars.