Behoo - anyone uses this?

[maxspbr]

Hello.

I just got a Behoo device. Anyone knows how to use it?

How works the "retractible" legs? What means the "v" position of the legs? Is it possible to know when it was made?

Thanks!

Martin

[luigi bertolotti]

BEHOO and its brothers BOOWU and BELUN were available for a lot of time: I do not know exactly the timeframe, but surely from before WWII (1935?) to the end of Leica screw mount life (first years of the '60s), but similar devices were made also for Leica M series... different mounts and coding but still present in catalogs of '70.

There were times when fotocopy did not exist...they were a set of copying devices for fixed dimension of subjects:

BOOWU : DIN A4,A5,A6 format (pages, tipically)
BEHOO : ratios 1:1,5 1:2 , 1:3 referred to the leica format (i.e. 36x54, 48x72, 72x108 mm)
BELUN : fixed ratio of 1:1

BOOWU could use any 50mm lens, BEHOO and BELUN the 50 mm Elmar only

The BEHOO used 3 different extension rings for the lens, and the legs can be adjusted to cover the three formats mentioned above; they are extensible, with clamping screw collars and engraved with the three distances to be set on. I remember (have the BOOWU) the "V" index you mention... but cannot remember its function... maybe related to the positioning of the 4 legs in the proper screw hole on the collars...I seem to remember that when any leg is into its RIGHT hole, screwed into, the "V" is seen OUTSIDE of the covered area... but am not sure... a nice device but more for collection than use... even if surely it still works properly...

Surely a specific instruction leaflet existed... if you are lucky, can find some reproduction of it in some of the portals dedicated to old Leicas... good luck!

[jc_braconi]

Martin
I posted this, please look here :
BEHOO

regards
JC

[maxspbr]

Luigi and JC, Thanks a lot!!!

I will try some photos with it, I'm very curious about this device - not for copies, but for close-ups (I saw a few photos, from an old leitz publication, just terrific using the behoo).

Anyway... Thanks!

Martin

[bobs]

I used this device to copy A4 & A3 color publications in the mid sixties with both a Leica 111 and an M3. The results were excellent at all times but in most cases I used out door daylight. Printing presented no problems with colour negative but I usually used slide film for projection purposes. It is possible to use the bayonet/screw adaptor for use on the M series but from memory I used a Summar lens.