I love nice gear - especially Linhof and Arca - as much as anybody. But if I were starting out, and wasn't filthy rich to begin with, I would stick to less expensive cameras like your current Linhof Bi, Arca F-Metric, Sinar F2s, etc. If you're doing jobs that require 4x5 film or a digital scanning back, the few minutes you save with a fully geared studio camera are miniscule compared to the entire process. After all, if you were doing things "quick and dirty" you'd be using a digital SLR or medium format. Put the savings into marketing yourself - you can never do enough marketing. Many photographers have gone out of business by getting gear crazy instead of making sales. I don't know of a single photographer who has beaten out a competitor because he had a Linhof GTL instead of a lowly Toyo or Sinar. One guy I knew in Rochester had almost every focal length of Leica, Hasselblad and Rodenstock lenses. Now he has none and sells real estate. I bet if you learned what beat up cameras Irving Penn, Craig Cutler and Pete McArthur use you'd be shocked... Best of luck - if you get a GTL or Monolith they are beauties...
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