DREAM GLASS GEAR
TAKE THE PLUNGE Tim Cragg on location in Egypt for The Deepest Breath
Leading cinematographers zoom in on their favourite lenses and offer advice on choosing the perfect fit for your next project A s any DOP knows, choosing a lens is serious business. The right glass can make or break a shot, wielding the power to shape the mood, perspective and storytelling itself on screen. As the great New Wave cinematographer László Kovács, ASC put it: “With a choice of lens, you can change reality... it cannot be an arbitrary choice.” The good news is that, thanks to evolving optical technologies, there’s never been a greater choice of lenses and customisation options available to cinematographers. So, in the ever-rising wave of cine lenses, where do you start? We decided to quiz some leading DOPs about their lens ride-or-dies: the secret weapons they never leave at home, and return to time and time again. As well as finding out what makes these lenses such favourites and how they use them, they generously shared some words of wisdom to help you choose the right glass for the job on your next film. Here’s what they had to say!
TIM CRAGG For DOP Tim Cragg – whose recent credits include prestige Netflix docs Beckham , Encounters and The Deepest Breath – everything begins with the story, and determining which lens will best suit the images required to convey it. Mostly dealing with retrospective stories, he frequently returns to anamorphics, favouring them for the cinematic, heightened sense of reality they create, which he believes helps people visualise the narrative at play. “Lenses are everything, they’re the eyes of the story,” he asserts. “Choose for storytelling purposes: each story is individual and calls for a unique dissection as to what it is you want the lens to say. It’s not just about the aesthetic, but the composition aspect of the lens.”
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