Help me choose 4x5 camera to buy in 2022

[Bernice Loui]

Not all foto image makers are motivated by $ or similar monetary instruments..
There are plenty of artist that are not motivated by $ or similar monetary instruments over the course of humanoid history.. Answer is easily found in the universe of Art History..

"Hard Earned $....".... Vast volumes of $ are not "earned" it comes from _?_
Think you know the proper answer to this question.


Bernice

Spending hard-earned money makes some people try harder.

[Michael R]

I'm not talking about lawyers and doctors but people who want to shoot artistically and will care about it with their hearts. Spending hard-earned money makes some people try harder.

That’s a very strange statement. Presumably anyone honestly motivated by the artform and wanting to make the best pictures they can will want to make the best pictures they can whether or not a relatively substantial amount of money was spent on equipment. If the effort is in any way proportional to the relative amount of money spent on equipment, the individual wasn’t motivated by photography in the first place, and was just fooling him/herself. I can’t imagine anyone interested deeply in making art not trying their best with whatever gear.

[xkaes]

Having hard-earned money doesn't mean you have a lot of it.

From the working people I've known, the ones that worked the hardest had the least of it -- that's the reason they were working so hard.

[Daniel Unkefer]

Right Allen has his opinion and it fits in some cases. Not in mine either, I prefer to find the olde and busted and clean it up. Then I have the chance to use something that deserves to be saved. Often I buy broken cheaply and take it in for repair or I fix it myself. Two broken items can often be made into a good working unit. If anything I am not as happy when I have to pay a lot to get something, even if it is rare. But you know sometimes I'm OK with that depending. Finding new uses for what I already have, the other side of the coin if you will. To me it's part of the fun of it. Then hopefully comes producing some good work for my efforts. YMMV

[Drew Wiley]

Just depends. I sold millions and millions of dollars worth of power tools to contractors before I retired, and can firmly state that many of the old ones, even somewhat beaten up, are still going to last a lot lot longer than the current renditions of allegedly the same product, even if brand new, and even if more expensive than ever. One has to understand how such things are specifically made, and not just outwardly branded, as well as the specific corporate philosophy in play at the time of manufacture, and whether parts are even still available today. Many current tools are deliberately down-engineered to be disposable, not repairable. But there are certain notable brand exceptions, particularly from German manufacturers, if one is willing to pay their deserved premium.

Likewise, selecting a vintage old Norma camera, I obviously bought the best one I could find within a reasonable price range, particularly since it had been in a studio all along and still had an almost like-new bellows. But those rigs were so well made to begin with, and were designed with easy user tune-up in mind, plus easy component interchangeability, that minor mechanical issues are not likely going to be a barrier to restoring full functionality. With wooden cameras, you have to be more aware of serious handicaps like warpage or splits, or old worn-out brass gearing. Many people don't even realize that there are dramatic differences between cheap melt-cast brass hardware and much denser die-cast and machined brass. Yet neither are equal to stainless steel or titanium. So a bargain could either be a real bargain or a real headache. If you know key distinctions in advance, then you're odds greatly improve. But not everyone is shop oriented.

[Alan Klein]

Don't you think the guy shooting expensive 8x10 takes more time and deliberates more about his shot than when he shoots 4x5, MF or 35mm? Not for everyone, but for many, higher costs motivate them to try harder.

[Alan Klein]

Right Allen has his opinion and it fits in some cases. Not in mine either, I prefer to find the olde and busted and clean it up. Then I have the chance to use something that deserves to be saved. Often I buy broken cheaply and take it in for repair or I fix it myself. Two broken items can often be made into a good working unit. If anything I am not as happy when I have it pay a lot to get something, even if it is rare. But you know sometimes I'm OK with that depending. Finding new uses for what I already have, the other side of the coin if you will. To me it's part of the fun of it. Then hopefully comes producing some good work for my efforts. YMMV

It doesn't have to be higher monetary costs. Your efforts to fix stuff adds value to them so you try harder. You respect the repaired instruments more, maybe more than the guy who pays a lot for new. Value can be measured differently. The point is when things are cheap to us, monetarily or emotionally, we treat them as such.

[Michael R]

Absolutely not, if he’s really interested in photography. If he is varying his effort based on format or price of equipment, he’s fooling himself. Certainly none of the best photographers I know of would ever think that way, and anecdotally I never would either. I put as much effort into my 35mm photos as I do into my 4x5.

Honestly I think this is really just coloured by your own market economics views.

Don't you think the guy shooting expensive 8x10 takes more time and deliberates more about his shot than when he shoots 4x5, MF or 35mm? Not for everyone, but for many, higher costs motivate them to try harder.

[r.e.]

I have a seasonal home in Atlantic Canada on a salmon and sea-run trout river. By law, fishing requires a fly rod and a hook that doesn't have a barb, and with few exceptions a salmon has to be released. I have a graphite Orvis fly rod and a Hardy reel, names that some will recognise as not inexpensive.

I've been working for a few years now on improving my skill. Luckily I have a great fishing buddy. I've fly fished in Canada, the U.S. and England, and one of my year-round neighbours on this river is the finest fly fisherman that I've ever come across. He's been fly fishing for 50 years, and knows that there's a lot more to it than skill with a rod and reel. He knows how to read a river. He gets his fly rods and reels from Canadian Tire, which in U.S. terms is sort of a cross between Tiger and Walmart. He does like to have a go with my gear from time to time, but he's quite content with his own kit; and he regularly out-fishes me when we're on the river

[xkaes]

All that sounds fishy to me.