Once again, I really appreciate all the time taken here to thoroughly explain different aspects of this issue. I'm a nerd deep (ok not too deep) down, so more than happy for a nerd fest. To respond to a few points and questions:

- Most pieces I've made are stand-alone or otherwise mobile, but the one that got me thinking about alternative photographic solutions is a 3.6x2.6m bookcase that takes up a whole wall of a small-ish room. So there's no moving the camera further back - I'll either have to be satisfied with a pretty wide angle shot, or experiment with stitching.

- Why would one need a macro lens for stitching, as suggested in a previous post?


And as a bit of a tangent.. Has anyone come across the Wanderlust Travelwide, a Kickstarter 4x5 camera? Looks interesting. Anyway, I'm still interested in having a crack at either MF or LF at some point, but my immediate need for it seems to have died away thanks to some forceful wisdom