Sometimes rise is handy when shooting tall objects - again,a modest amount is generally all that is necessary. Last point - If you buy a quality system to begin with, you'll almost always be able to sell it and get most of your money back at a later date. Since the lenses are essentially interchangeable, you can move to a different system fairly economically. The Walker Titan SF is a little over 6 lbs. Go with fast lenses and Beatty screens to make viewing on the ground glass as easy as possible.
Large format is a different world under the hood.