Sundance 2018 Panel: “Options in Optics”

At the Canon Creative Studio on Main St. in Park City, a trio of experienced cinematographers detailed their respective creative approaches to employing the right lens for specific situations and storytelling purposes.

It is the camera that separates motion pictures from any other art form, and it can be said that the lens is the most important part of any camera system — which just might make the lens one of the most important tools in film production.

As part of the Canon Creative Studio and American Cinematographer's creative discussions with filmmakers, AC welcomed cinematographer and ShareGrid co-creator Brent Barbano, cinematographer Martina Radwan and cinematographer Yamit Shimonovitz to join myself — AC contributing editor and ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council Lens Committee co-chair — for a discussion of “options in optics” for modern production.

Both Shimonovitz and Radwan photographed documentary projects that were in competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival — Half the Picture and Inventing Tomorrow — which naturally drove the conversation to focus on optics choices for reality-based storytelling.

The discussion ranges from favorite lens choices to the classic debate of primes versus zooms for cinéma-vérite production.

The discussion examined the choices of Canon optics from compact zooms to CN-E cine primes and the “vintage” options of K35s, which have gained significant popularity in recent years. The elements of what defines the “Canon look” and how cinematographers choose a lens and a look for a given project were also passionately discussed. 

This panel discussion was live streamed via the AC Facebook page and can be seen here:

Go to our main Sundance page to find other discussions held at the Canon Creative Studio.