cinematographer

English

Etymology

From cinematograph +‎ -er.

Noun

cinematographer (plural cinematographers)

1. (cinematography) A photographer who oversees the operations of the cameras and lighting when making a film. The cinematographer may also double as the camera operator of the movie camera, though this is usually done by a cameraman. The film director may also double as the cinematographer, though this is usually a different person.
   • 2026 September 25, Zoya Mateen, “From Nagaland to a path to the Oscars: Indian film brings a rarely seen world to global cinema”, in BBC News‎^[1], retrieved 25 September 2026:

     Rio and cinematographer Adam Pietkiewicz shot Angh on 16mm film, drawing on photographs and footage of missionaries and Naga communities from the 1950s and 60s.

2. (dated) One who exhibits motion pictures; a projectionist.
   • 1916, The American School Board Journal, volume 53, page 41:

     It is what the spectator sees, not reads, that leaves the lasting impression. The best plan is to have the cinematographer call in order to determine the details to be covered.

Synonyms

• cinematographist
• (photographer): director of photography, DP, DOP

Translations

a movie photographer, especially one who is in charge of shooting a movie

• Belarusian: кінематаграфі́ст m (kinjematahrafíst), кінематаграфі́стка f (kinjematahrafístka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 電影攝影師 / 电影摄影师 (diànyǐngshèyǐngshī)

• Danish: filmfotograf c
• Esperanto: ĉefkameraisto, kameraistino
• Finnish: elokuvaaja, kuvaaja (fi)
• French: directeur de la photographie (fr) m, directeur photo m, chef opérateur (fr) m, cheffe opératrice (fr) f, directrice de la photographie (fr) f, directrice photo f
• German: Kameramann (de) m, Kamerafrau (de) f
• Hungarian: operatőr (hu)
• Japanese: 撮影監督 (さつえいかんとく, satsuei kantoku)
• Romanian: cineast (ro) m, cineastă (ro) f
• Russian: кинематографи́ст (ru) m (kinematografíst), кинематографи́стка (ru) f (kinematografístka)
• Ukrainian: кінематографі́ст (uk) m (kinematohrafíst), кінематографі́стка f (kinematohrafístka)

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