A Review of the Konica SR-V100 Film Endorsed by Leslie Cheung (Published on February 5, 2021)

In 1984, Leslie Cheung (Gor Gor) won the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award and the Jade Solid Gold Top Ten Awards for the first time with his song "Monica." This song not only sparked a massive craze for high-energy dance music in the Hong Kong music scene, breaking the previous dominance of ballads, but it also became a major milestone in the history of local popular music. Its record sales quickly surpassed quadruple platinum, cementing Gor Gor's superstar status in the Hong Kong music industry.

Whether locally or in the Mainland, many people began wanting to hire Gor Gor for commercials around this time. However, his standards for commercials were even higher than for movies; throughout his life, he only ever endorsed four brands. He once explained in an interview that to recommend a product, he first had to be able to accept it himself; otherwise, how could he recommend it to others?

It is clear from this that the product quality of the four brands Gor Gor endorsed must be top-notch. Among those four brands, three of them are edible, leaving only one that cannot be eaten. That would be Konica film!
Keen-eyed viewers might have noticed that the Konica Pop camera held by the female lead in the commercial has a shutter speed of only 1/125s, an f/4 aperture, paired with SR-V100 100-speed film.

Realistically speaking, even with the flash turned on, it would be almost impossible to get a good concert photo with that setup. But never mind, we all know this was just a demonstration effect, haha. Even so, I believe this roll of SR-V series film must genuinely have been legit; otherwise, Gor Gor wouldn't have endorsed Konica.

Next, let's turn our attention back to the film that Gor Gor took out from his red suit jacket pocket while singing in the commercial and tossed into the audience—the Konica SR-V100.

First, let's take a look at the official catalog's description of this film's performance:

Next, let's look at Singapore's description of this film's performance:

And finally, of course, let's check out Hong Kong's local promotional description for this film:

When it comes to the description of the film's performance, Hong Kong's print advertisements were practically mesmerizing. At the time, the print ads claimed that the SR-V incorporated revolutionary new ingredients, "V-Time Primary Particles" and "V-QL Crystals," which drastically improved the film's color and clarity performance while offering great exposure latitude. It truly achieved the slogan: "Vivid splendor, preserved for you." Since they made it sound so good, it was impossible not to give it a try.

Since we had to try it, naturally we had to find that exact roll of film. What we have here is literally a product from 1986!

Bonus feature: A Konica collectible model train carriage~

This roll of SR-V100 produced in 1986 has an expiration date of November 1988. As of 2021, it is already 33 years old.

Opening the box, you'll know that Konica is a company with a long history, founded in 1873. In 1940, the company produced Japan's first color film, making it the very first company in all of Japan to make color film—even earlier than Fujifilm.

The real deal has appeared—SR-V100.

Inside the box is an exposure guide.

 

The commercial says that the new SR-V color film released in 1986 has vibrant colors and can render lifelike skin tones, making it just right for taking photos with your idol. Hmm~ Instead, why not use this roll of film recommended by Gor Gor for today's test shoot and go take pictures of things related to him?

Because this roll of film was drastically expired, and coupled with the fact that we didn't know how it had been stored, even after using the exposure rule of adding one stop per decade, the results still didn't seem to show the performance that the "V-Time Primary Particles" and "V-QL Crystals" should have had. Luckily, there was another camera on hand to help everyone experience the atmosphere of the scenes~ We took this roll of film recommended by Gor Gor and chose three locations where he filmed music videos back in the day, happily listening to his songs while taking pictures~

1. Duddell Street Steps and Gas Lamps

• Ref: "Who Resonates with Me" MV (1986)

 

Ideal Vision ↓

"笑問誰 , 肝膽照應"

"不信命, 只信雙手去苦拼"

Reality ↓

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外晴天

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外晴天

 

2. Murray Road Spiral Bridge, Central

• Ref: "Stand Up" MV (1986)

 

 

Ideal Vision ↓

"STAND UP!, STAND UP!"

焦焦焦～

Reality ↓

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外晴天

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外晴天

3. Pound Lane, Sheung Wan

• Ref: "Stand Up" MV (1986)

 

 

Ideal Vision ↓

"STAND UP"

"坐坐坐會坐足一世"

"伸出雙手放任地, 跳跳跳擲開一切"

"搖擺的結他似興奮劑"

"別再說妳要坐底"

"如不想似跛腳的鴨仔, STAND UP !"

Reality ↓

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外天陰

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外天陰

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外天陰

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外天陰

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外天陰

↑ Nikon FM2+ 50mm F1.4 AIS+ Konica SR-V100+戶外天陰

Although this roll of film expired 33 years ago couldn't capture gorgeous photos, and the results were pretty much as expected, it was precisely this adventurous spirit that gave us such a joyful afternoon~

 

慢曝人生

慢曝人生。導人向毒
與有格局的人分享有格調的底片人生

發表於 2021 年 2 月 5 日