I am glad to see there are so many experienced and knowledgeable people who are answering questions by humble beginners like me. Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom. I have been working with 35mm, 67 and 645 cameras for 15 years now. I have always wanted to move up to 4x5 and now I think I am ready to take the financial plunge. The other day I spent 3 hours talking with a rep. from Horseman about 4x5 cameras. After getting the crash course in what tilt, rise, swing and shift all mean and how they can be used I was quite excited to get my hands on a camera and rush out to the mountains. As I do a lot of hiking and climbing (not rope climbing just hands and feet climbing up steep slopes), the rep suggested the Horseman HD45 as the camera for me. Looking at the reviews and comments about this camera it seems the biggest obstacle is the lack of bellows extension, thus making it difficult to use telephoto lenses of over 250mm. Given the price of lenses and the ice age speed at which I will probably aquire them this is not a big concern for me at the momment. However, I want a camera that will last for at least 20 years, and during that time I may consider increasing my lens collection beyond a basic set of three lenses.
So, my question is basically is this a good camera to get for a first time LF-er? Or are there good reasons to invest in something different? Sorry for the lengthy preamble. I await your responses.
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