[LargeFormat] MF + movements

[Frantisek Vlcek]

Hi all!
   I would like to know some options in MF with movements, please.
   Used only, as I am on very tight budget which depends on selling
   some 35mm gear successfuly. And with luck I am gonna get paid for
   some MF slides done with old Rolleiflex, so I want to invest the
   money in something that would serve me for a long time - the
   Rolleiflex is 65 years old and has been doing pictures all those
   years, well. I want something similar :)

   I have in mind a travel camera, MF, which would allow movements.
   Most 4x5" are just too expensive, and I don't have 4x5" enlarger
   anyway, contact printing for me starts at 13x18cm/5x7" (from what I
   have seen). 6x9cm is my enlarger maximum (comfortably). 4x5"/9x12cm
   camera would have one benefit - possibility of 6x12cm rollback.
   Panorama pictures are of course more sellable than normal ratio.

   Wide lenses are good, too. Movements are primarily for landscape
   photography, plus occassional architecture but not any
   apo-grandagon 35mm style :) simply not enough dough.

   I heard so far about several systems, and please add any comments,
   suggestions, other cameras, and very helpful would be usual
   second-hand prices (although these are often quite different to those in
   Czech republic, sometimes it helps to know).

   I am used to very handholdable MF, the Rolleiflex, which I can
   handhold up to 1/20, even longer with bracing one's back, and have
   pin-sharp photographs, so I propably would like something similar in this
   regard. Tripod isn't always an option.

1) Mamiya Press or similar, the rangefinder with 50mm, 105mm and 150mm
lenses. Sometimes these turn out even here in Czechia, often at too
much $, sometimes relatively cheap. I heard there are quite some
differences in quality between the lens generations (silver/black) and
their build quality - the silver are supposedly prone to very $$$
repairable break?
           Movements - what does it have?
This one looks good as it is rugged, handholdable thus maybe best for
traveling ? Usable even with monopod when I don't want to take much
weight?

2) 2 1/4 & 3 1/4 Century Graphic - this is not much available in
Czechia, being built in USA long time ago, not imported into
Communist country. But these are supposed to be cheap in USA, and
maybe my friend there could ship me one. It's a miniature field LF,
isn't it? With Graflok/International back - so I can use all the modern
rollbacks? Is it more versatile than the Mamiya? But less of a giant
Leica (which the Mamiya resembles, at least to me) ? Bellows - what's
the minimum? How does it compare $$$-wise to Mamiya? Especially with
the fact that I would have to get shuttered wideangle lens, as at best
it would come with normal lens only. Are there any older options of
shuttered MF wideangles mountable on it? Some shorter Angulons or
such? And option of barrel lenses (possibly front or backmounted) - I
have a very good apo-tessar 9/460 which I long to use on something
(it's said to be corrected at infinity too, unlike many process
lenses!) - what's the maximum bellows draw?

3) I heard there are some monorails too - e.g. Galvin 2x3" monorail.
Obviously, not hand-holdable but lots of movements, perhaps more than
I would use. The less obvious things? Bellows maximum? Minimum? ...


The last two options can be propably more expensive than a well-used
Mamiya, just because I would have to buy the lenses extra. Or no?

Thanks for help! Of course, this may be all hypothetical if the prices
of these are more than I assume :)

Frantisek