ZEISS ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE.
A WIDE MARGIN According to Yedlin, ZEISS Supreme Primes retain their quality when wide open, allowing for bigger framing on Glass Onion
“It’s important to note the inherent contrast to these lenses – how dense and rich they feel”
LOOKING UP Under the Banner of Heaven is a true-crime drama miniseries created by Dustin Lance Black, based on the book of the same name.
cinematographer for the project. “With Glass Onion , however, we start with sun- drenched Greece and the interior set of a modernist villa that’s all straight lines and cement slabs. Then, later in the film, the lights go out and you’re almost in a horror movie with shadows on walls. It makes for a very interesting arc to create looks that complement the plot.” He explains that a lot of people think of a specific lens as integral to their aesthetic. Yedlin sees it differently, though, feeling that a lens is simply a tool for creating a unique visual style. “I absolutely love the ZEISS Supreme Prime lenses, because I feel like they’re freeing me to do whatever I want to do,” he says. “They have everything I wish a lens would have as a versatile tool. All lenses, of course, get worse when wide open. What’s great about the Supreme Primes is how close you get to wide open before that starts, it’s very impressive. It allows us to frame our scene a lot bigger. “The flares are also very contained. As you overload the lens with light, you still get the flare, but you don’t get a big veiling flare that goes over everything. To me, this allows us to do much more daring lighting, because we’re not leaning on the lens to make a look, we’re just leaning on the lens to deliver whatever we need to amaze. To me, the technical performance allows us to be creative in other ways.”
Series cinematographer Gonzalo Amat likes to keep a distance between audience and subject. “I was looking for lenses with enough clarity, because we also had lots of VFX on this series,” he explains. “The effects felt invisible, but we still needed lenses that were clean enough – though at the same time not so sharp as to see pores on people’s faces. I wanted something just like Radiance.” When he tested ZEISS Radiance lenses, Amat was inspired to shoot wide open and light very softly. “For example, we do use a couple of filters, sometimes for exteriors captured by wide-angle lenses,” he adds. “But in general, I used no filtration at all. That worked well in combination with a soft focus, with the character of the lenses and being able to flare while wide open.” Amat has worked with vintage ZEISS optics, and says it’s tricky working with uncoated glass or lenses with different housings. “Whenever you change, you have to adjust the lens control. I find, from a practical point of view, modern optics provide an advantage. I have no difficulty pulling focus on a modern lens with vintage
characteristics. These lenses were a huge advantage for this story,” he declares. A SUPREME PARTNER With ZEISS Supreme Primes (14 lens set) and Supreme Prime Radiance (11 lens set) capable of covering Super 35, full- frame and beyond, you can be confident in developing a look of your own, no matter the camera. With aesthetic focus fall-off, elegant bokeh and gentle sharpness, combined with the unique eXtended Data capability for VFX-intensive productions, the Supreme Prime and Supreme Prime Radiance lenses could be the perfect partner for your next project.
zeiss.com
59. MARCH 2023
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