A cinematographer (from 'cinema photographer') is one photographing with a motion picture camera. The title is generally equivalent to director of photography (DP or DoP), used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and techical decisions related to the image. The cinematographer is sometimes also the camera operator. The term cinematographer has been a point of contention for some time now; some professionals insist that it only applies when the director of photography and camera operator are the same person, although this is far from being uniformly the case. To most, cinematographer and director of photography are interchangeable terms.

The English system of camera department hierarchy sometimes firmly separates the duties of the director of photography from that of the camera operator to the point that the DP often has no say whatsoever over more purely operating-based visual elements such as framing. In this case, the DP is often credited as a lighting cameraman. This system means that the director will consult together with both the lighting cameraman for lighting and filtration, and the operator for framing and lens choices.

The American system tends to be the more widely-adopted, in which the rest of the camera department is totally subordinate to the DP, who with the director is the final word on all decisions related to both lighting and framing.

The cinematographer typically selects the film stock, lens, filters, etc. to realize the scene in accordance with the intentions of the director. Relations between the cinematographer and director vary; in some instances the director will allow the cinematographer complete independence; in others, the director allows little to none, even going so far as to specify aperture and shutter speed. Such a level of involvement is not common once the director and cinematographer have become comfortable with each other. The director will typically convey to the cinematographer what s/he wants from a scene visually, and allow the cinematographer latitude in achieving that effect.

On some shoots, a director may assume the duties of the cinematographer, especially when shooting nude scenes or in other physically intimate settings where the director wishes to have as few people as possible present.

Some of the crew who work under or closely with the cinematographer include:

• camera operator
• focus puller (1st assistant cameraman)
• clapper loader (2nd assistant cameraman)
• second unit
• assistant camera trainee
• gaffer, best boy, and "sparks" (electrical crew)
• key grip
• production designer and art director
• color timer

In some countries, cinematography is a unionized field; major guilds include the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC).

Noted cinematographers

• Nestor Almendros
• Billy Bitzer
• Jack Cardiff
• Michael Chapman
• Raoul Coutard
• Roger Deakins
• Christopher Doyle
• A. A. Englander
• Karl Freund
• Ron Fricke
• Conrad Hall
• James Wong Howe
• Darius Khondji
• Laszlo Kovacs
• Subrata Mitra
• Kazuo Miyagawa
• Robby Muller
• Sven Nykvist
• Roger Pratt
• Rodrigo Prieto
• Robert Richardson
• Douglas Slocombe
• John Seale
• Vittorio Storaro
• Gregg Toland
• David Watkin
• Haskell Wexler
• Billy Williams
• Gordon Willis
• Vilmos Zsigmond

Additional resources

• The documentary film Visions of Light is generally praised among film critics.