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Compare Film

Below is one sheet of 4x5 film beside a strip of 35mm film. They are shown at 82 percent scale.
      The notches in the upper left corner of the bigger film identify it as Plus-X, as well as giving one a clue to which end one has hold of in the dark.
      This illustration should give you some idea of why the quality is so much better in large format images. Both sizes of film are made from the same stuff. When you go to enlarging your negatives, the results have to be better with the much larger area of the sheet film. The bigger, the better.
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  An eight by ten camera’s film is, well, eight by ten inches (duh). The down side is that in order for the lens to cover the larger and larger areas, you need to use bigger and bigger lenses. Where a 50mm lens is normal for a 35mm camera, a 165mm lens gives the same rendition on a 4x5 camera and you need a 325mm lens to have the equivalent in an 8x10 camera. These lens are subject to all the same problems of accentuating movement and minimizing depth of field that you find in telephoto lenses in 35mm.
      So, though you have a ton of film surface to catch all the detail, you also have a ton of camera (literally) and no tolerance for movement. That’s why you see so many large format pictures of rocks.
See a comparison of enlargements made from 35mm and 4x5 films.
I also have a photos of a view camera, in case you’re not sure what they are or how they work. See the camera

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