Large format photography on MC travelling, possible?

[backofbeyond]

If it's that important to you and you're happy to dedicate a pannier to packing a Sinar monorail with all the associated bits and pieces, lenses, boards, backs, etc then, yes, it's possible. They're not even that expensive these days.

Even something like an old MPP 5x4 folding field camera is cheap enough and that would only fill a tank bag. But unless you want to produce (a few) images suitable for a billboard I'm not sure of the point.

Unless I've thrown it out there's an old MPP up in my loft somewhere and a no name 10x8 in the store that we used to use for corporate challenge type events. There's also about half a dozen old medium format cameras, including my all time favourite, a Mamiya RB67. I've taken the RB on bike trips but by the time you've wrapped it in a blanket and packed it away carefully you have to leave loads of other luggage out.

For anything smaller than a door sized print I can't see much, if any, difference between 5x4 and medium format - if visual 'quality' is your primary criteria. It may not be of course. Some people just like being hands on with this stuff, coating their own glass plates in the moonlight etc. I can understand that - I spent some time once trying to work out a way of taking an 8" reflecting telescope on a bike (unsuccessfully). Good luck to them but take another camera to show us how you did it.