Ok I used both Shen-hao TFC617 and now has a Fotoman 617 (probably the opposite pathway as compared to Lachlan?) and I think I do have some experience here. These comparison applies to the interesting topic on Gaoersi/Fotoman 4x5 P&S cameras vs non-folding field cameras like Shen-hao XPO or Ebony 45S/45SU/RSW45 etc as well.
In short these are just apples and oranges...I enjoy/enjoyed using both cameras. I really don't need to reiterate the pros or cons of either one, but at the end of the day it is the way each photographer chooses to take pics that determines which camera is better. Some people care about tilting, shifting, swinging, precise focusing, switching lense all the time whereas other people just want to take some snapshots before a decisive moment goes away. There isn't really good or bad here. All roads lead to one purpose - to take pics.
There were three reasons for me to switch to Fotoman. First, most of my trips in the near future will be backpacking ones. I won't have the luxury to drive a car and hauling a lot of gears. The advantage of Shen/Ebony 617 in the system weight only emerges when you have more than three lense, whereas I use 90mm and 180mm for most of the time, and I don't find myself keeping switching lense at one spot.
Second, although I deem the Fotoman viewfinder as pretty much unusable, it does have 3 hot shoes allowing you to use linhof 617's viewfinder (see pic below), which I just bite the bullet and bought. Didn't regret though, the linhof brightline finder is just so much more accurate. Fotoman VF is like crap compared to it - its framing will change more than 50% just as you move your eye around the eyepiece, plus its ridiculously low eye relief just drives us eyeglass wearers nuts. You can certainly use GG all the time, but that defeats the whole point of using these big P&S cameras. If I might suggest, get some linhof finders before GBP or Euro rises up to high level again....
Last but not least, while one can use tilting/swinging on a field camera to take some interesting pics, P&S also have its unique advantage. Bruno Morandi did some really wonderful photojournalism work including this one with a traditional 617 camera, which is pretty much impossible to take using a field camera:
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