Janusz Kaminski: "..I don't have respect for digital media just yet."

[Dominik Muench]

Someone hand the man an EPIC please ^^


Interesting article in the LA times:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb...raphy-20120219

to be honest, I'm not sure why cinematographers till bother with this whole film vs. digital discussion. Its long been proven that you can create amazing results with both formats, so why not just get over and on with it....nevertheless.....interesting read :)

[Ryan De Franco]

It's not that he decries anything about digital capture. Just the inescapable mentality you endure when you see what you're recording, instead of meticulously planning, calculating, guessing, finding blind miracles in the emulsion that one day elevate you to the level of Janusz, painting with the sum of the accidents and alchemy you've found... when there's a 17 monitor that looks good, you lose part of that process, especially if you never spent 30 years mastering it in the first place...

hence the dramatic statements.

[Dominik Muench]

true that.

I have to agree with him to a certain degree though, that a little bit of the "power" cinematographers used to have gets lost in the digital process today by splitting up tasks....then again...the skills just shift....instead of doing things yourself, you now talk to a DIT and get him to resolve certain things. this of course is also due to the fact that digital image capture has become a quite complex process with a lot of steps inbetween that can be influenced. where in the old days it could have been as simple as whacking a roll of film in the mag, expose it, take it to the lab and there was your image.

i might be wrong but didnt Kaminski shoot Indy 4 on the Genesis ??? This article says his first experience with HD was just recently on a commercial ?

[Nick Morrison]

Did you guys read about how he shot War Horse? In ASC this month? He literally layered filters and shot everything in camera. He layered double fog and coral and ND grads to get these pastoral majestic looks. I saw the still grabs and I was blown away. They have almost no tweaking done in the DI. He and Speielbierg shoot it all in camera. Amazing.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Not that I know anything about how Janusz feels... But most of those I know personally, who still prefer film, are in love with the process. Both film and digital can produce amazing imagery, this is proven and I don't see how anyone can deny it. And yet, both have their own aesthetics, some people still prefer film and may always prefer film, even when it falls to the wayside as a forgotten art and no longer has any technical edge, maybe even loses the ability to compete on a technical capability level altogether. That's beside the point. Film is an art and a process all its own. Setting aside all the technical facets such as dynamic range, resolution, etc.., all things that digital is now mostly equal to or even beginning to surpass, film still has many organic aspects in the images it creates and the process to get there which digital can not emulate. Nor will digital be able to emulate in the foreseeable future... For some, film is still very much where it's at.

[Nick Morrison]

Not that I know anything about how Janusz feels... But most of those I know personally, who still prefer film, are in love with the process. Both film and digital can produce amazing imagery, this is proven and I don't see how anyone can deny it. And yet, both have their own aesthetics, some people still prefer film and may always prefer film, even when it falls to the wayside as a forgotten art and no longer has any technical edge, maybe even loses the ability to compete on a technical capability level altogether. That's beside the point. Film is an art and a process all its own. Setting aside all the technical facets such as dynamic range, resolution, etc.., all things that digital is now mostly equal to or even beginning to surpass, film still has many organic aspects in the images it creates and the process to get there which digital can not emulate. Nor will digital be able to emulate in the foreseeable future... For some, film is still very much where it's at.

Roger Deakins said this month in American Cinematographer that after shooting Alexa he's convinced that digital has now surpassed film. He loved the experience. He said he couldn't see a reason to going back....

[Meryem Ersoz]

I read this article as Kaminski being unwilling to turn substantial parts of creating the look and texture over to other parts of the production (DIT, post-house, colorist...).

When you are a legend, still at the top of your game, why would you want to relinquish that kind of control. His position makes perfect sense, for him. It's not so much about digital media being "good enough" - it's about it working precisely the way that he wants it to....

For me, a far less talented "painter," I'm glad to have RAW files at my disposal and a team behind making the best possible images.

[Dominik Muench]

For me, a far less talented "painter," I'm glad to have RAW files at my disposal and a team behind making the best possible images.

couldn't agree more ^^

[Nick Morrison]

Yeah in the War Horse article in American Cinematographer, he pretty much said the same thing. He knew what he wanted. He preferred to not muddy the process and just get it all in camera. He didn't want his vision to get lost downstream.

[Adam Beck]

Yeah in the War Horse article in American Cinematographer, he pretty much said the same thing. He knew what he wanted. He preferred to not muddy the process and just get it all in camera. He didn't want his vision to get lost downstream.

This is part of what I've heard from well established cinematographers, with film you were some what forced to learn the technical side, you learned your craft. Unfortunately, there is not as much discipline required with digital. (good and bad)