M9 + Beoon Camera Scanner

First I've heard of the BEOON copy device.

I looked it up; it looks like an excellent replacement for my cheap ($140) copy stand which I've mostly used to do the same thing. A good quality copy stand runs about what a BEOON costs. And since I can use an M body, or a Sony A7 body with M-mount adapter, or a Ricoh GXR-M body, or a Micro-FourThirds body with M-mount adapter ...

Hmm. I think you just cost me whatever I can find a BEOON for.

Oh well ... :)

G
 
Monochrom said:
Hi, Today i received a beoon device for making 1:1 ratio copies.

the manual told me how to do a quick and effective light table and here are the first serious results i made. ...
Click to expand...

Okay, I found one on Ebay at a reasonable price and bought it. Sigh again.

It doesn't seem to have a manual with it. Do you know of a manual available on line anywhere?

thx,
G

-- Follow on --

I sent the seller a note asking if the manual for the BEOON was included with it. He replied that he didn't have the instruction manual to send it. A while later, he sent me another email saying that he was a Leica dealer in the past, had the dealership for about 15 years. He had hunted through his Leica stuff and found an older copy of the Leica Way that had the instructions for the BEOON in it. The BEOON was already packaged and postage applied for shipping, so he's sending me that copy of the Leica Way separately, with his compliments.

Now that's what I call a great seller to deal with! I hear so many miserable stories of Ebay problems, it's nice to be able to relate an Ebay tale of working with a great seller and a Leica enthusiast to boot. :)
 
I got a BEOON about 8 mos ago...havent had the chance to use it yet..but I do have a manual for it..and can send you guys some pics if you want...
Or maybe just post them here...
Looking forward to using this when I finally get a FF cam...as I have lots of MF negs to scan..some of my pops from the 30's too...
 
Thank you both for responding.

The seller I bought the BEOON from sent me an old copy of The Leica Way which has operating instructions. And then a chance meeting with one of my old buddies from the photo workshops happened to have a copy of the BEOON manual, which I've photocopied now.

As expected, the device is pretty easy to figure out anyway... :)

I might do my first test with it tonight.

G
 
Dear Godfrey

I for one would love to see the original instructions, even though, as you say, you can actually work it out. But you never know when there might not be some clever trick along the read the manual mantra lines.....One issue for prospective purchasers is whether the whole kit is included. Mine was complete and even included the original box. Having access to the instructions would reassure prospective buyers.

Regaards

Richard
 
Richard G said:
I for one would love to see the original instructions, even though, as you say, you can actually work it out. But you never know when there might not be some clever trick along the read the manual mantra lines.....One issue for prospective purchasers is whether the whole kit is included. Mine was complete and even included the original box. Having access to the instructions would reassure prospective buyers.
Click to expand...

The BEOON I bought was complete other than the manual too. The manual is only four pages ... No wonder it was lost most of the time.

Here's a scan of the manual ... I had it bound at Kinkos.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25268645/BEOON_Manual.pdf

G
 
I've just spent the greater part of two days trying to make good "scans" with a BEOON that I bought from someone in Oz. It looks good: spotless with no scratches.

However, using an M-Monohrom, and trying two 50mm lenses (Summilux-50 pre-ASPH and the DR Summicron) and, following the Leitz instructions in setting the lens at f/11 and the focus at infinity, I've found it extremely difficult to hit focus as well as negatives that were scanned for me on an Epson V800 at a small lab in Chiang Mai. My feeling is that the BEOON would work much better for someone using a camera with live view.

As I can't spend more time on this, I'll probably decide to sell the BEOON at the same low price at which I bought it. I'm not about to buy a a variety of the Sony A7 just to use with the BEOON.
 
Nowhereman said:
I've just spent the greater part of two days trying to make good "scans" with a BEOON that I bought from someone in Oz. It looks good: spotless with no scratches.

However, using an M-Monohrom, and trying two 50mm lenses (Summilux-50 pre-ASPH and the DR Summicron) and, following the Leitz instructions in setting the lens at f/11 and the focus at infinity, I've found it extremely difficult to hit focus as well as negatives that were scanned for me on an Epson V800 at a small lab in Chiang Mai. My feeling is that the BEOON would work much better for someone using a camera with live view.

As I can't spend more time on this, I'll probably decide to sell the BEOON at the same low price at which I bought it. I'm not about to buy a a variety of the Sony A7 just to use with the BEOON.
Click to expand...

Just to be sure, you got the grain check magnifier attachment with your BEOON, right? I now use E-M5 MkII (with 40 mp mode) with BEOON and I agree it works better with live view capable camera body, but I successfully used MM before that with pretty good sharp results (grain check with the magnifier attachment, then replace that with MM).
 
Nowhereman said:
I've just spent the greater part of two days trying to make good "scans" with a BEOON that I bought from someone in Oz. It looks good: spotless with no scratches.

However, using an M-Monohrom, and trying two 50mm lenses (Summilux-50 pre-ASPH and the DR Summicron) and, following the Leitz instructions in setting the lens at f/11 and the focus at infinity, I've found it extremely difficult to hit focus as well as negatives that were scanned for me on an Epson V800 at a small lab in Chiang Mai. My feeling is that the BEOON would work much better for someone using a camera with live view.

As I can't spend more time on this, I'll probably decide to sell the BEOON at the same low price at which I bought it. I'm not about to buy a a variety of the Sony A7 just to use with the BEOON.
Click to expand...

I tried the grain focuser and got "decent" results. It is definitely easiest to work with a live view body—the M-P typ 240 and SL both return very nice results. I find it handiest for working with medium format negatives. My Nikon Coolscan V does such a good job with 35mm negatives there's really little point to the BEOON for that.
 
I figured out the problem: I was stupidly setting the lens to f/11, which is the aperture the BEOON manual states should be used for copying; but, of course, the lens should be set to it's maximum aperture (f/2 for the DR Summicron) for focusing, and then stopped down — that gives perfect focus every time.

Incidentally, I find that the BEOON/MM/DR-Summicron gives substantially more dynamic range than the scan I have that was done with the Epson V800.
 
As I wrote above, I've now figured out how to focus correctly with the Leitz BEOON copy stand. Here is a photo digitalized with the M9/Focotar 2 — I'll now have to figure out in detailwhether, for Tri-X, it makes any visible difference to digitalize with the MM vs M9; so far, I doubt it.

M6 | Summilux-35 FLE | Tri-X @ ISO 400 | Stand development for 1 hour in Rodinal 1:100, gentle inversion after 30 minutes.

Chiang Mai

_______________
Alone in Bangkok essay on BURN Magazine
 
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