GAF L-CM

The Simple Joy of a well made machine

Naming conventions of cameras can be unintentionally difficult. Plenty of companies changed model names based on region, local copywrites, or even reused names decades later. The SLR lineup of GAF follows this confusing trend, with most online sources mixing up the names and associated models. The GAF L-CM is the Chinon CS, while the GAF L-CS is the Chinon CX, and there is no GAF L-CX. The copywrite date listed in the L-CM manual is 1974, but the Chinon original is another story altogether, and somewhat of an interesting one.

The exact introduction date was hard to pinpoint, as Chinon themselves did not sell cameras in North America (and other select countries) under their own name for many years. They stuck to rebranding their cameras under multiple names for companies like Ricoh, Porst, Argus, and Sears starting in the late 1960s. Reading and translating countless magazine articles and sifting through ancient forum posts… I found a single throw away line. In a copy of the 1973 Swedish ‘Turist’ magazine, it off handedly mentions the new Chinon CS as a great camera when traveling, shouting its praises. A year earlier than the L-CM would make sense in the world of rebranding. Another oddity is later in life, the Chinon CS was used as a comparison to new cameras as a sort of standard to meet. It goes even further as it was popular enough (or produced enough) that B&H was still selling the camera within its ads into the mid 1990s.

A fair amount of the cameras GAF rebranded were all black with hints of chrome. There is definitely a style GAF was going for. This may just come down to me, but the cameras they released had an air of cool. The GAF L-CM is an all black camera, with a black textured leather covering fitting perfectly into the style. There is even a bit of matching leather on the lens, to round out the look. Nothing was outright chrome in the design either, it was always edges and components you would be handling. The L-CM feels significant in the hand and every control is precise and solid. Unassuming from a distance, but a beautiful camera the closer you look. Engineered and designed to perfection by Chinon.

Being the base model, this is a simple camera. Looking through the viewfinder, you have microprism focusing and a +/- meter on the right side. The L-CM takes M42 mount lenses, and has a center weighted meter. While holding the camera, push the plastic switch down on the right of the lens to meter your shot. Adjust the shutter speed and aperture to align the meter needle within the +/- and take the picture. This is stop down metering as well, so your view will get darker as you adjust the lens aperture when metering. You can push up on the meter switch to open up the lens again and adjust focus, or take the picture while still metering. Either way is fine, as the camera will reset the meter switch to off once a picture is taken. This is effectively the on/off switch.

To adjust the ASA of the meter, look at the top of the camera on the shutter speed dial. Lift up on it and turn to the desired ASA from 10 to 800. On the same dial, the shutter speeds are one second to 1/1000th of a second and bulb. A threaded shutter release is to the right of that, along with the winding lever, and frame counter. On top of the prism is an X sync hot shoe, with additional X and M sync PC ports on the left hand side of the lens, while looking down. To the left of the hot shoe is the rewind crank and film type reminder dial. A thing to note is there are two blanking plates on the camera. The next model up had additional features there. Besides your standard rewind release button, battery cover, and tripod socket on the bottom of the camera, the last feature the L-CM has is an eight second self timer lever on the front.

THE SPECS AND FEATURES

Shutter Speeds - 1 to 1/1000th of a second, bulb

Aperture - dependent on lens

Meter Type - TTL, 2 CdS cells, center weighted, averaging

Focus - microprism

Shutter - Copal metal shutter, vertical travel

ASA - 10 to 800

Lens - m42 mount, 50mm f/2 Auto Chinon (standard included)

Flash Option - hot shoe (X sync), X and M sync PC ports, 1/125th sync

Batteries - PX625, an LR/SR44 works (add a stop on internal meter)

Film Type - 35mm

Other Features - self timer

The Experience

GAF never really made their own cameras. The brand generally sits in relative obscurity today, even in the inner niches of the film community. It’s understandable, given you can just get the true Chinon version of the camera, but something about the logo gets to me. After buying a few GAF rangefinders, I found myself looking into the SLR cameras and found a decent looking one for a throw away price. Once it arrived, other cameras and articles were in the works, so the L-CM sat for a few months in an unknown state.

As the weather warmed up and local events started to happen again, I wanted to take the L-CM along and decided to give it a test. Everything felt great and when I developed the film, the pictures were out of focus. Nothing seemed to be out of place, until I unscrewed the lens, and the mirror fell right out of the camera. This was the first sign of many issues, and how out of practice I was working on SLR cameras.

I’ve glued mirrors back onto cameras a dozen or so times, and even cut some to fit. Thankfully the mirror was still in great shape, only needing to be attached to the metal sheath again. However, someone messed with the clip on the left hand side and permanently bent it up. With the original spot weld broken, it no longer held the mirror down. I had a lot of trouble but was able to bend it down a reasonable amount so it would be vaguely in the right area. I scraped the old glue off the back of the mirror and glued it back into place, along with the black ribbon used as a light seal. This would be the first mistake on my part.

The glue I used under the light seal ran, and got into the hinge of the mirror, gluing the mechanism. To my horror, I found this out by winding and firing the shutter while nothing happened. I quickly realized my mistake and very carefully scrubbed off the glue and ran the shutter a handful of times. With the mirror free again, I screwed the lens back on and went out for another test run. For those keeping score at home, one more point for the GAF camera as I made yet another mistake here. Once home, I developed the pictures… and again found them to be not only out of focus, but the shutter was dragging badly as well. A rookie mistake, as I forgot to check the viewfinder focus after gluing the mirror back on. The one plus side here is I quite liked the look of the dragging shutter on a few pictures.

Getting my act together, I dove into figuring out what was wrong with the shutter first. I’ve worked with timings on cloth shutters before, but metal/vertical shutters, not as much. The Copal Square shutters are the extent of what I have worked on, and luckily this is what was used in the L-CM. Shutter capping is the universal term used when one of the shutter curtains is dragging or running too fast, but I was unsure which curtain it was and what was the issue. There is also the possibility of the mirror being caught in the frame, but the L-CM fires the shutter with a switch that the mirror activates when it has fully risen. A very clever mechanism, and one I have not seen until now.

That rules out the mirror. Taking the lens off the camera and firing at a very bright light with the back open, I checked the speeds by eye and found that one of the curtains was slow, I believe the leading one. I flushed the shutter and made sure all bits were moving correctly and this seems to have fixed the speed issue. I took out the camera for a quick bracket test and found the shutter to be a lot better but sticking at 1/1000th very slightly. Winding the shutter slowly and looking at every movement of the blades, I found what I was looking for. On the inner curtain, at the very upper left side, underneath the top arm was a grease like spot, most likely from deteriorated foam that got caught in the blades. After a lot of scrubbing and running the shutter later, the grease was gone and the speeds were perfect.

Now onto the focus adjustment. This can either be very easy or a nightmare. To my surprise, it was a screw that was simply adjusted while the shutter was open. Lots of back and forth later I finally had the L-CM adjusted and in great working order, except for two more cosmetic things. First was that the kit lens was bent from being dropped at some point, and second was that it was missing the plastic bit on the end of the wind lever. I bought a lens vise and bent the threads back into place, and printed a replacement plastic piece for the winder, trying my best to resemble the original. I think that both fixes turned out great, and I was finally able to relax as the GAF L-CM was all together and fully working.

On my first real test, I went out with a roll of black and white Ultrafine film to a local park. I wanted to get an image of a bird on the countless bird houses around. Previously, in the shutter test runs of this camera, I used a 135mm lens, but it was surprisingly too short. With me, I took the absolutely enormous Vivitar 85-205mm f/3.8 and waited patiently at a reasonable distance to capture the shot. It took a handful of tries, but I used most of the roll and finished the rest with a few pictures of a bridge in another park. I developed the film as soon as I got home, and came to really like the shot I captured of the bird feeder, minus the water bottle. All shots on the roll were perfect exposures, and the shutter was working flawlessly.

Going back to the standard kit f/2 lens, a week later I took the camera out with a short roll of the same black and white film, and biked to the lakefront. A few pictures of the boats and piers later, and I was on to the next roll. This was an expired roll of Mitsubishi branded color film and found it performs best in full sun. Half of this roll I used on the lake and took the remainder with me, shooting on the way home. Since the camera was working without issues and I was in a flow, the L-CM was running through rolls like it was nothing.

Seven rolls of film all together and I can say that even through the trials and tribulations the camera put me through, I really do like the GAF L-CM. I’ve read a handful of articles put out in the last decade from other websites that mentioned the L-CM as not inspiring or just alright, and I very much disagree. Let me convince you.

Looking through the collection, I have more than a handful of M42 cameras, and this one stands out to me. Solid as a rock, a great feel and sound, simple to use meter, and it looks good. The L-CM uses the bulletproof Copal metal shutter and can sync flash at 1/125th. Not only does the camera feel great, but the lens feels equally incredible. Its focus has one of the smoothest throws I have ever used. Either wide open or stopped down, the lens renders scenes very well and adds a bit of contrast. An excellent camera, perfect for a beginner or someone who wants to get into M42 lenses. I can whole heartily say that I recommend either the Chinon version or GAF L-CM to anyone looking for a basic SLR that is a joy to use.