I have an app for my phone called "artemis." It's a director's finder for filmmaking for when you don't have a set of lenses and a finder handy. It just happens to support 4x5 and 8x10 in addition to the usual motion picture formats because they used to be used for shooting effects plates and images for set backdrops.
I use my Canon G12 for sketching. I don't have it set to give 5x4 on the screen so I carry a true 5x4 inch cut-out.
It is possible to guess on a wide, standard, long lens from there.
When I take others on workshops, the main composition issue they have seems to be translating what is viewed into a final composition.
Often, they see more context than they need, leading to later cropping.
For landscapes there is often a size relationship between near and distant objects that works. Playing the size of one against the other can be a key task.
I often start further back from the possible tripod spot and walk into the scene until I like the look of it for scale.
Another method that can help is to scan the image into Photoshop, cut out the various parts and change their size/location.
I have a sequence of images that dempnstarte this in a show that I put on at camera clubs.
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