by Q.-Tuan Luong for the Large Format Page
Here I compare the price of a very good LF 5x7 system (mine actually) with a few popular MF systems with comparable optics, and the Leica.
Canham Rollei Blad Mamiya Pentax Leica
5x7 2500 6008 3500 501C 2600 7 1850 6x7 1400 R6 2800
10 holders 250
90 Nik 840 40 5800 40 4000 43 2600 35 1200 19 3200
120 Sch 1320 50 3000 50 2700 65 1600 55 900 24 2400
210 Sch 900 80 2000 80 - 80 1300 90 600 50 900
450 Nik 1200 150 3200 150 2750 150 1800 165 630 90 1400
4260 14000 9450 7300 3330 7900
7010 17500 12050 9150 4730 10700
Surprisingly, the
conclusion is that the LF system is actually less expensive than all
but one MF system (known to be particularly a good deal). The trade-off
is ease of operation (for MF) vs a negative which is more than 5 times
larger, plus movements and individual film processing.