Lovely format and lovely camera. The Bronica ETRSi is my personal preference but I do have a Pentax 645Z and it's absolutely fabulous, a ridiculous bargain. Even if it's not 6 x 4.5.
Ah, memories.
Ah, memories.
Sometimes I want to go back to film. Not necessarily large format as I would hate to lug the things around now. Perhaps some East German 35mm stuff :)
The best now? Traipse to Khrome in Central Hamburg, drop off films, ask for scanning, results arrive by email several days or maybe a week later, but still have to head back to collect negatives, and all of this costs a bomb now.
I basically keep my ancient Contax T2 loaded with crap film and shoot it casually all year long like we used to and then develop it so you end up with birthdays, christmas, easter all on one film like the good old days.
It's so expensive to experiment now.
But it's true that colour photography is essentially dead for non billionaires. I stocked up with more than 100 rolls a few years ago. When I run out, I'll just continue with black and white.
Bulk rolls of Fomapan 100 are still very cheap. For 4x5, a single 50 sheet pack lasts me more than a year.
For 8x10, shooting X-Ray film is cheaper than Fomapan in 4x5 (but the film is very easy to scratch).
I prefer B&W. But still admire lots of color photographers. One of them is Christopher Burkett, one of the few folks who still do Cibachrome prints these days. His prints are so marvelous that people may easily mistake them as digital images.
Of course, what he's doing takes lots of expertise and money.
But yeah, is it worth the hassle? Probably not.
I then scan the negatives. Once every blue moon I dust off the enlarger and make prints - but inbetween those sessions, I am happy to be digital.