Chris, I wonder if you bought one already; your question comes from May, it's November now and people keep on discussing about a question most people say is impossible to answer. If you did, I am curious to know whether your preliminary deliberations seem still relevant now. Mine did not, you see, I just love the results on 4*5. I recently bought a second-hand Linhof, not because of status (I am more inclined to spend money on lenses), but it seemed the most portable and I mean with that also that I do not need to be careful with it. You don't need a case or so. It is much more portable than my Hasselblad which I changed for it. My final choice was between ARCA SWISS or Linhof. I chose Linhof because of portability and it is easy to set-up. It's not lightweighted, but the compactness of it is important also. I would not buy a monorail in your case. I plan to do landscape most of the time also (and still-life and macro). The Arca Swiss seemed less a voyage-camera to me. Linhof's RF was an argument for me to buy it too, but I postponed it because of the money. I do not think I will buy it in the future, I would rather buy a nice old lens for that price. I recommend Schneider lenses because of their beautiful contrast. I do not think Linhof is expensive. Value for money is not important with camera's like Leica, Hasselblad or Linhof. You can easily sell them and get back the same or more than the price you paid for it. So when people say: start with a cheap one to get used to the format: buy a Linhof, you will always get rid of it if it doesn't suit you.