GAF Memo 35EE

[Doug T.]

Hi All!

I'm not sure if I posted this one before, if I have, please forgive me, my brain doesn't work as good as it used to
I couldn't get the meter in this camera to work, so I cleaned it out again with some steel wool until the contacts were nice and shiny, inserted a fresh battery, et voila!
It works nicely now.



I can't count the number of cameras I've got working just by cleaning the contacts. These didn't even look that bad!

Doug

[Stephen]

That 35mm compact camera model must hold the record for appearing under more generic names and brands than any other 35mm compact, Dixons did it in the UK, plus Hanimex and several Euro suppliers, like Porst.

GAF did supply it to the UK wholesale photographic trade under GAF branding, but they could not compete with Dixons on price!!!...for an identical camera. The shop I worked at held unsold stock, which was taken back by GAF in the end. The owner only took them as we stocked the film, GAF slide projectors, and GAF Super8 cine equipment, including sound versions.

GAF were never marketed well in the UK, they concentrated on Cine and slide projectors for a while, and sold the still cameras on the name association, thinking they could get a premium pricing point, it did not work against Stanley Kahms buying direct from Japan for his Dixons group. He also supplied Boots the Chemist, the UK major drug store retailer, with the same model, but with their branding.

GAF marketed the pre-paid colour slide films quite well, but negative film sales were poor as the negative film was a very cheap type. The GAF slide Projectors were very good, mainly German designs, assembled in Belgium, and rivalled more expensive Kodak models.

Stephen.

[casualcollector]

This model was current when I was working in the Cameras/Electronics dept. of a chain store in the mid 70s.

I was sorting defective merchandise for return to vendor and one of these was in the pile with its kit flash. Dead, but a look at the battery contacts told the story. I offered the Dept. Mgr. $10 and he cleared it with the higher ups. I think I had it working before I left the store. Still have the camera though the flash is long gone. The self timer lever went astray shortly after I bought it.

Like your employer, we carried GAF Super 8, 110, and 35mm cameras in addition to the cine and slide projectors. Unlike your experience the GAF branded cameras were pretty much at the bottom of the price scale, beneath Yashica, Minolta, Konica and Canon. The L-17 SLR model sold well at $129 to $149. The Memo 35 model went on sale at about $69.99. The GAF slide projectors were less expensive versions of the U.S. made Sawyers models or were near copies of same. The cameras and cine projectors came from Chinon.

[Stephen]

I think 3M, the GAF owners, ran the Euro end as a separate unit, the Belgian unit in particular marketed projectors different to the US Sawyers types. They tried to market more up market dual projectors with electronic auto fade, rather like the dual Kodak Carousel system.

The problem they had was trying to sell basic plastic designed cameras,(and they really looked plastic!), as more up market, trading on the GAF name, which was good for slide film in the UK. They had a distinctly US design look, a problem Kodak had, when the UK market liked the German precision look (which they lost as well).

Most Japanese made cameras just looked so much more sophisticated, especially 110, although Kodak dominated the market.

Stephen.