I just don't get what you're saying, Scott. I "get out from behind" my MF cameras all the time. Adjustments in composition are extremely fast. An MF kit like an RZ/RB/hassie whatever allows you to work with ground glass / WLF or prism or whatever. It's far more flexible and versatile than a system that constrains you to ground glass only. Anyway I do agree that if one has a vision then the need to recompose is less. But for a newcomer to larg(er) format portraiture....
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I actually do think portraiture is mostly about spontaneity. People's expressions change very quickly, and of course, people do respond differently to different cameras, but ultimately it all comes down to the rapport one establishes with the subject.
The RZ/RB/hassie systems have been workhorses for this kind of work for decades and decades. If they were in any way fundamentally limiting then that would not be the case.
Bottom line for me: regardless of format, the camera must *never* be allowed to emotionally separate the subject from the photographer... not in LF, not in MF, not in any F! If that happens then the photographer has failed at a very fundamental level. What I think I see, in some work, is a tendency for the camera itself to displace the subject. When I view a portrait and the very first thing I see is not some uniquely personal expression, then I have to ask myself, what's the subject really?
Of course it is up to the O.P. to decide what will work best for the desired subject matter. And I certainly would not discourage experimentation. I.e. do not take naybody else's word for it... find your own photography
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