[Leica] M's vs 4x5 (?!?)

[rpalmier at depaul.edu (Robert Palmieri)]

Folks - 

Well, I'm going shooting in an arboretum this weekend with one of my 4x5
totin' buddies.  In classic David and Goliath fashion I've decided to
bring nothing but Leica-related gear.  I'll be attempting to test a
hunch of mine that under certain conditions (all objects of interest at
relatively the same distance from the camera, no need to stop down too
far, etc) our 35mm tools of choice just might be able to hold their own.

The main advantage seems to be that most of us can afford (in terms of
cost and bulk) to carry a wider assortment of primes in order to be able
to get a lot of shots from a lot of positions without the need for
cropping.  I'll be packing 15 & 21mm Voightlanders, 35 4th gen 'cron, 50
collapsible 'cron and 85mm Nikkor.  I might also bring along an SL with
60 & 90 Elmarits and the 400 Telyt in case a nice bird or two present
themselves.  

Films will be Acros 100 (my usual choice for such applications) and
Velvia (likely to be printed in B&W.)  At the last minute Bob Meier sent
me a test roll of Tech Pan that he developed in Technidol, with some
really nice results. The negs look to be surprisingly long in scale, and
although I'm a bit unfamiliar with this material I just don't think I'll
be able to leave home without it now.

So, besides the use of my trusty Tiltall, a long cable, hoods/no filters
& optimum apertures, does anyone have some last-minute advice (other
that suddenly upgrading my lenses to some fancier modern stuff)? Really,
my goal is to come back with snaps that I like, but comparisons in the
ways that these disparate hardware rigs render the subjects will be
inevitable...

Bob Palmieri