8x10 gets a lot more expensive to buy and use than 4x5. How much more expensive depends what weight of equipment and what you are producing as a end product. The lenses are usually more expensive and there are a smaller number of them. Obviously different than 4x5, more weight, heavier tripod, bigger everything. Contact print or enlarge? Enlargers are a lot bigger and heavier and a lot more expensive - with lenses too. If a V8 is heavy than I would be concerned - there will be a lot of weight - it does seems to be proportional to expense. OK, the next factor I didn't realize when I started with 8x10 is that there is far less depth-of-field. I wanted more detail more information on my prints. Ignorantly on my part, I thought for example that a wide angle on 8x10 was like a wide angle on 4x5 ( which I had been using for 30 plus years). Depth of field on 8x10 - a 165mm or 155mm lens on 8x10 is the same as it is on 4x5 - not at all like depth of field of a 90mm or 75mm lens on 4x5. So shooting 8x10 is very different. My first 8x10 was an old wood camera (something similar to a Kodak 2D) - it got me started. I wasn't able to control camera movement blur that well so I went to a metal Calumet C-1 which is very heavy 18 pounds. Still 8x10 requires more attentiveness to detail than 4x5 while taking images and printing. Even with a 10 pound camera I would be hauling around 50 pounds plus. All of the advise above comes from seasoned photographers - and is very helpful. I wish you the best journey.