The average film camera has for the last 50 years used either 120 rollfilm or so-called 135 film, 135 being by far the most commonly used type. Each frame of 135 film is 36x24 milimeters, while the average consumer dSLR camera today has a sensor size of approximately 60% of this, around 23x15 milimeters. The sensors in digital compacts are much smaller still. Within this tiny space, the camera and its lens has to compress the vast amount of detail visible to the human eye. The resulting replications of reality are far from perfect, they can't be.
One way of partially overcoming this problem is quite simply to use larger film formats or digital sensors. Within the digital realm, the 48x36mm sensor size available in certain medium format digital backs is pretty much as large as it gets without substantial R&D resources (like what a major corporation, national government or army might have at their disposal).
In film, things are a bit simpler. While constructing huge digital sensors is a challenging task, creating a huge sheet of film or photographic paper is really – simply put – just a matter of making it bigger than usual, and building a camera large enough to house it.
The biggest 'instant' camera I know of is Polaroid's 20x24'' behemot. It's 1.5 meters tall and weighs in at 106 kilos. The Polaroid paper sheets used in this camera is, as the name implies, 20 x 24'', which equals 50x60 cm. Keeping in mind that the aforementioned 135 film is a mere 3.6 x 2.4 cm, it's easy to see why such a larger-than-life camera would be capable of producing prints of far superior detail compared to smaller formats.
A number of these cameras are available for hire, complete with a dedicated studio space, in San Fransisco, New York and Prague. Following Polaroid's recent announcement that they will completely cease the production of their signature instant film, there is a certain risk that these cameras will be destined for the museum soon.
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