Agfa Memo (1939-1941)

The Agfa Memo was made by the Agfa Ansco Corp. in Binghampton, NY, from 1939 through 1941, the Second World War putting an end to camera production for the duration of hostilities. It is a folding 35 mm camera that used normal 35 mm film in the unique Ansco film cartridge. The Agfa Memos have front cell focusing lenses and set-and-release shutters. The cameras came with different lenses and shutters, depending on the price. My full frame model has an f/3.5 lens and the half-frame model has an f/4.5 lens. Both have shutters that run from 1/2 second to 1/200 second plus bulb and time. "Bulb" means that the shutter remains open as long as the shutter release is pressed. "Time" means that the shutter opens when the release is pressed and closes when the release is pressed for a second time. The shutters were not synchronized for flash. Each camera has a depth-of-field calculator on the top and a tripod socket on the bottom. The viewfinder is a reverse galilean viewfinder. The top also has an accessory shoe for an auxiliary range finder. In 1939 the advertised price was $25 for the f/4.5 lens model and $35 for the f/3.5 lens model, equivalent in purchasing power to about $465 and $650 in depreciated 2019 dollars.

Full Frame Memo with f/3.5 Lens

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Half Frame Memo with f/4.5 Lens

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Inside

The film advance is a slide across the back of the camera. A push of the slide advances the film one picture and increments the exposure counter. The film travels from a supply cartridge to a take-up cartridge. The film in the full frame memo goes from right to left while the film in the half fame memo goes from left to right. The cartridges hold film for 24 full frame, 24x36 mm pictures or 48 half-frame, 24x18 mm pictures. The Memo cartridge first appeared in 1927 for the earlier Ansco Memo camera and had some success. The similar Agfa Karat cartridge (new in 1936) was half as large. The Agfa Memo could use either cartridge, but the Memo cartridge was too large for the Karat cameras. The Kodak Daylight Loading Magazine (new in 1934) became the standard for 35 mm film, and most of the other 35 mm cameras on the market could use Kodak magazines.

Ansco was one of the oldest photographic supply companies in the US. Scovill Brass, founded in 1802, began to make daguerreotype plates very soon after the daguerreotype process was invented and continued to make various photographic devices until it merged with the E and H T Anthony Company in 1902 to form Anthony and Scoville Co. (later Ansco). The E and H T Anthony Company was a leading photographic supply company in the last half of the 19th Century. Dry plates from a small start-up company, Eastman Dry Plate Co., were just some of the many products E and H T Anthony sold. Eastman Dry Plate because Eastman Kodak and grew much larger than Ansco by 1928, when Ansco merged with the German Agfa company, part of the giant I G Farben combine. Agfa Ansco Corp. was enemy alien property during WWII and came under the control of the federal government's alien property custodian. After WWII Agfa Ansco was reorganized as General Aniline and Film, later GAF, and GAF still exists as a roofing products manufacturer. Agfa merged with the Belgium firm Geveart after WWII, and Agfa-Geveart is still in business.