I'm very glad you've come to the same point. The most important element is the human factor. It's not the hardware takes pictures, is a man who uses it. You must also look to the manufacturer's point of view. If such professionals as you would buy a cheap used equipment, you need to ask yourself who can afford a new one. They must be very careful in order to survive in this very small market. Just be glad that the students can learn at a very good equipment, which now have better access than ever.
If I was one of those students and was to buy MF from scratch, I would buy S/H, I would go for the V system, I would buy 5 S/H lenses (40, 60, 80, 120m, 180), I would buy 3 S/H film backs, a contax or mamiya with a V adapter and a P6 adapter (for the arsat 30 and the CJZ 300), and my 528c if I needed to have 4-16x, or 132 or even sinarback at 22mpx if I didn't, with different adapters for my cameras, no matter my budget! The rest of the money that I would save to buy similar on a new H system, ......I would spend on a Porsche! That would guaranty classier models on my studio and thus more success than competition and hence much more money! I bet you in a year or so, I could buy the H system (or another Porsche), ....just from profit! Maybe we all have to think that those great pictures of the past ....are still great and they were done with much lesser(?) equipment than the one described above! That is why I'm saying that their policy of vanishing useful staff from the S/H market is suicidal, this way they forbid people to get to know MF and thus shrink their own market from potential buyers! Regards Theodoros.
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