Tim, I curious about your "need" for movements. Could you quantify it? As far as I understand, you have gotten on without so far.
If your need is closer to desire than to hardship (!), then there are some half-solutions which might last you for a while, such as looking for a good copy of the Hartblei (not the Phase). It depends on how much shift you need though. There is a decent amount of tilt, but not so much shift.
Or, you might shoot film and scan... It worked for everyone for a long time, and the more time you need to invest in LCCs and so on, the less the time penalty for film. It depends a bit on your expected volume, I suppose.
It just sounds a bit like you are looking for a solution which does not exist (and which everyone else is looking for too). Something small, easy, and part of a single system, yet with large movements and no quality penalties. The HTS comes closest, I suppose. Although there must be quality compromises with it, no one has gone on the record yet saying that they can see them. The wide angles remain the primary compromise there.
Good questions Carsten.
I know you're familiar with some of my history of gear and with some of my work.
My current dilemma has the following history: I have been shifting more towards a strange mixture of what I call 'architectural landscape' which is largely about the relationship between landscapes and the structures that humans put in them. This also involves exploring themes of the passage of time and decay.
With the Lyonesse series finished (and half way through a very successful limited edition print auction on behalf of the charity Photovoice) I am moving on to a series exploring man's territoriality: the way he claims, marks off, monitors and defends his land and the structures on it.
So what all this requires me to do is take pictures of
a) landscapes with man made structures in them
b) much closer up situations such as interiors
Additionally what I want is for all this to be in absolute crisp focus from near to far and corner to corner. I want total 'dead pan' with no suggestion that a camera was involved. No selective DOF, no blur, nothing.
My M8 is almost perfect for much of this. No need for shift, since with the right glass and aperture the DOF suffices very well and the files blow up to large exhibition sizes very well. But I found myself wanting sometimes to correct verticals and sometimes wanting to crop or enlarge beyond 24 x 36 so I bought a film based field camera and used that for a while. However, lugging it around on trips, along with all my other gear, and in particular trying to get really good quality development and scanning proved to be a real hassle. I often need, if I've driven a long way to shoot a scene, to be able to confirm I have the shot as I want it before I leave and 4x5 film makes this impossible.
So I moved to digital on the understanding that I could get the movements I want soon enough with either the Hartblei (Reichmann had reviewed it and said that on screen it was as sharp as his Zeiss glass) or the Hassy T/S.
Now I did totally understand that the ultimate quality of the edges was not going to be as absolutely perfect as with a field cam and non-retrofocus lens setup but I did think it would be very good and that by stopping down there'd be a sweet spot that met my needs. Otherwise why would professionals buy the stuff, hey? ;-)
Then I find that the Hartblei not only makes the shots look like they were taken through a coke bottle, at any aperture, but that the alternatives with the Phase back require almost as much (and in some ways, e.g. LCC frames more) hassle as the film setup.
So, I need to shoot scenes which in 35mm FOV terms vary usually between 20mm and 50mm. They need to have perfect perceived focus from let's say five or ten feet away to infinity when printed to very large dimensions (let's say 1 metre wide) and I need to be able to correct verticals both internal and external.
I do understand that this will take time, patience serious money but it is slowly becoming clear that there actually isn't a solution (unless the Hassy TS turns out really well or Hartblei come up with a very good batch of rotators!)at any price that avoids the need for a serious amount of buggering about! More importantly, buy the time you've packed all this stuff for a trip you certainly need at least two largish bags just for the camera gear. Maybe I should sell my toothbrush and clean underpants!
List for camera bag for average trip:
Tripod
M8 and three lenses
Phamiya body
One or two Phamiya lenses
Silvestri Body
L bracket for Silvestri on tripod
At least one lens for Silvestri
Centre graduated ND filters
Black cloth
Loupe
Meter
Wi-Bal card
Opaque sheet for LCC shots and iPod voice recorder attachment for noting the LCC shots
Releases, wake-up cable,
Sensor cleaning gear
Laptop
Chargers, cables cards
Osteopath
...