If I were you, go with the following:
- 4x5 wooden or metal viewcamera. 8x10 may be nice, but the camera equipment is almost to heavy to carry, and film is getting more and more difficult to get, not even talking about the size and difficulties to get an enlarger that can handle 8x10 negatives (unless you want to do 8x10 contactprints only, which I think is a loss for the beautiful negatives). 4x5 is still rather "regular", and can be found or bought through the internet with ease. A viewcamera like this with three lenses or so and a few holders, doesn't weigh much more than a professional digital reflex set with a couple of heavy zoomlenses, like a 70-200 F2.8 or so...
- Go for something like a
Chamonix 4x5. I have the Tachihara 4x5, and although it is beautiful camera and I have used it happily, it is not as sturdy and elegant in use as the Chamonix. If you have more bucks to spare, than of course something like an all metal
Canham DLC45 would be a nice option. Lots of movements, well build and compact.
- Buy a 150 mm lens. They are generally small and lightweight, even in the F5.6 versions, which are recommendable due to the relative weak light on the groundglass in a technical camera. It is my most used one, together with a 75mm lens I have. I also have a 210 that I use less (but I must admit I haven't yet done a lot of portraiture, for which it may be better suited). The 75 is also nice, especially for architecture, as it is probably the equivalent of a 25 mm or so wide angle in 35 mm fullframe DSLR photography. But many people seem to prefer 90 mm. I use my 75 mm without a special wide angle bellows, nor a deepened lens board, which restricts movements a bit, but it still leaves about 8-10 mm rise, which in my case is usually enough.
, ensure you have a good scan to start with.
