There's a learning curve for LF photography, same as any other. Some would say it's a steeper curve, I don't know about that though because most people getting into it already have considerable photography experience and some idea of what they want to accomplish with LF. But I digress.
Fact is, you'll need to shoot hundreds of shots to get comfortable with it, be it 4x5 or 8x10. You'll need to experiment with films, lenses, cameras, tripods, backpacks or studio gear, the works. If you want to start out with 8x10 and can afford the projected cost of hundreds of shots in your first couple of years (plus the gear, which is much more expensive), then have at it. I'm glad I started with 4x5, and honesty I didn't really learn it until I got a couple boxes of expired B&W film and started doing my own processing, which brought my costs down to about $0.25 a shot. That meant the gas I spent driving to my shoots cost more than the shots I took. In other words, I didn't care anymore about 'wasting' a shot if I just wanted to try something, thought I should bracket exposures, got a 'new' old lens, whatever. But that's me, and honestly it's mostly because I only have the time to spend on it when I'm between jobs (and short of cash).
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