Hello from Besan輟n, France !
Being a happy Arca Swiss F-line user (6x9 cm and 4x5") and living close to the factory, It is impossible for me to give an advice without being biased.
A friend of mine living close to here has a 8x10" F-classic, actually he first bought a second-hand 4x5" F-line and eventually acquired the 8x10" bellows and back new. So at least I have an address in France outside Arca Swiss where you can manipulate a similar 8x10" F-line camera (my friend's model is not the F-metric, it is the F-classic).
In general, 8x10" field cameras of traditional design can be folded into something quite compact an portable in the field.
Traditional 8x10" monorail cameras were, at least in the past, mostly used in the studio, and they were big and heavy.
So the choice in terms of compacity for field use should be obvious.
But actually it is not so obvious when F-line cameras enter into the game
For example you can have a look at an Arca Swiss Oschwald 8x10" camera (pre-1984, before the F-line) on this "for sale" advertisement (seller is in France, but just across the Channel, the items are located in d駱artement de la Manche, in Normandy). (note that the seller includes in the lot a 4x5" Arca Swiss Reflex camera, an absolute rarity for collectors).
The 8x10" Arca Swiss Oschwald camera looks really big, and not very easy to carry in a back pack.
However since 1984, many improvements have been made, and among many improvements, folding rails and the very last compact model, the 8x10" misura (see below) have been introduced.
The Oschwald camera featured above is equipped with the telescopic rail.
The rails is made of 3 parts, a lower rails as a base, plus two halves sliding on top of the lower rail.
Current F-line models can be equipped exactly like this.
What 8x10" F-line users do with the telescopic rail is that they choose a short rail element in front and slide both function carriers to the short rail element and separate the rear rail element and base from the rest of the camera before packing.
Hence you do not have to disassemble the whole camera, you just have to slide-off the lower rail under the camera's front rail element, and pack something quite flat.
But instead of the telescopic rail, you can use the folding rail, named 'collapsible' in official A/S literature in English.
So for a 40 cm rail, you can fold it into 2 halves of 20 cm.
Another friend of mine who had bough a second-hand 8x10" Oschwald camera, had a shortened rail, the previous owner and simply cut the rail do make it shorter!
An evolution of the 8x10" F-line in terms of compactness and light weight is the 8x10" misura model. It is not really much cheaper than a F-metric 8x10", and not easy to see at dealers' stores, but the solutions proposed to make the camera really compact are interesting.
The 8x10" Arca Swiss misura, folded.
The rail folds into 2 unequal parts, the shorter in front and the longer in back, folding upward. So you take the whole camera out of your backpack using the rear rail as a handle, and in 30 seconds the camera is ready to use.
Note however that the misura has no tilts at rear. This saves a lot of weight, for landscape use you my not feel the need for rear tilts. For studio use, this is another story, the misura is not designed for such kind of traditional studio work with a lot of combined tilts and swings.
F-metric function carriers are heavier than F-classic function carriers, since they carry a rack and pinion control system for lateral shift, and they are much heavier than the simplified rear misura carrier, since it includes a tilting mechanism, this needs some metal to properly operate.
But a F-metric 8x10" fitted with a telescopic rail when collapsed to a 15 cm front rail element is almost as compact as the misura.
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Back to the original question, actually the choice between field and monorail cameras is one of the most often asked questions on all photographic forums dealing with large format equipment.
Both kinds of cameras have a very strong character and it is hard to decide without manipulating them.
With monorails, movements are almost unlimited, applying movements is obvious and simple. And the smoothness & precision of Arca Swiss controls is legendary, even more: it is addictive
But if you do not need a lot of movements, for example in landscape photography, the field camera is perfect.
And since the proposed choice is between two excellent European manufacturers, being a Continental Euro-Patriot, I cannot say anything else that: "any choice between both cameras will be the good choice "
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