Best Cinematographers List

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Last Updated: 9/22/25
Note: It's simple and straightforward: the best of the best cinematographers in cinema history which is about the look of the film.

Miniseries and telefilms are fair game, but anything made after the year 2000 and documentaries are excluded.

This list is based on what I have seen so far and is limited to the top 15 with 5 honorable mentions which are all unordered. While selecting the cinematographers, I am thinking about the unparalleled beauty through the high number of films they had handled.




  1. John A. Alonzo

  2. If you are enamored by the look of Chinatown, it's because John A. Alonzo shot the film which earned him the only Oscar nomination of his career. Of Mexican-American and Latino heritage, he went on to work on Lady Sings the Blues; Farewell, My Lovely; Tom Horn; the 1983 version of Scarface; and Internal Affairs. On a side note, he mentored John Toll who went on to win two Oscars for Best Cinematography.


  3. Jan de Bont

  4. Jan de Bont first made his name by working on Dutch pictures like Turks fruit. Once his talent was recognized by Hollywood, he emigrated to the United States and did further work. As a result, Jan de Bont produced beautiful films such as All the Right Moves, Die Hard, and Black Rain. He's also famous for directing Speed and Twister.


  5. Stephen H. Burum

  6. The name may not be familiar to you, but you certainly know his work through Brian De Palma's films. The best he did are Body Double, The Untouchables, and Mission: Impossible. Additional work includes The War of the Roses for Danny DeVito. Remember Rumble Fish? Stephen H. Burum did that, too. It's too bad that he wasn't properly recognized, having been awarded merely one Oscar nomination during his career.


  7. Freddie Francis

  8. Freddie Francis could work with both sides of the template: black-and-white and color. As a result, he won two Oscars for Sons and Lovers and Glory. Despite not working much as a cinematographer, he was able to produce stunning work with little to no special effects such as Room at the Top, The Elephant Man, The French Lieutenant's Woman, and The Executioner's Song. Elsewhere, Freddie Francis spent a lot of time directing horror and thriller films.


  9. Conrad L. Hall

  10. Be careful: there are two Conrad Halls. One is the father, and the other is his son. The former is being rightfully recognized here, having won three Oscars. He's among the best in business, having done the cinematography for In Cold Blood, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Black Widow, and Jennifer 8. Conrad L. Hall also did the iconic shot of Kurt Russell and Mel Gibson on the swings while the sun was setting down in Tequila Sunrise.


  11. Emmanuel Lubezki

  12. Completely underrated during the 90's, the Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki was responsible for shooting three unbelievably good-looking pictures: Como agua para chocolate, A Walk in the Clouds, and Meet Joe Black. Eventually, he received recognition during the 21st century by being awarded three Oscars among eight nominations.


  13. Chris Menges

  14. A British cinematographer, Chris Menges is a two-time Oscar winner, having handled some of the most stunning-looking period pictures such as The Killing Fields and The Mission for Roland Joffé. He also shot two more UK films: Local Hero and The Boxer. His motto is: "Being a good DP is about listening. As a DP, you shouldn’t be overly concerned with being a technician. Those skills should be second nature. Instead, you should be driven by vision and a knack for getting on the same page as your director to build vision together."


  15. Robert Richardson

  16. If you loved Oliver Stone's films, then you loved the way Robert Richardson shot them. He's a three-time Oscar winner, having worked on Platoon, Salvador, Wall Street, JFK, and The Horse Whisperer. His creed has been: "It's far better to shoot a good picture than a good-looking picture." Indeed so.


  17. Philippe Rousselot

  18. A one-time Oscar winner, the French cinematographer shot a wide array of films, resulting in a beautiful composition. There's no particular style he uses, preferring to follow what the director has in mind for his film. Among Philippe Rousselot's best works are The Emerald Forest, Dangerous Liaisons, Henry & June, A River Runs Through It, and Interview with the Vampire.


  19. Douglas Slocombe

  20. You aren't familiar with the name, but you're exceedingly familiar with his work which won three Oscar nominations. Douglas Slocombe shot all of the three famous movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He was responsible for other beautiful pictures such as The Blue Max and The Great Gatsby.


  21. Vittorio Storaro

  22. If there's anybody who's the best, it's Vittorio Storaro. One word: beautiful. A three-time Oscar winner, he's a longtime favorite of Bernardo Bertolucci, having done brilliant work. His must-see films are Il confirmista, Last Tango in Paris, Novecento, Agatha, Apocalyse Now, The Last Emperor, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, The Sheltering Sky, and Little Buddha.


  23. Robert Surtees

  24. Robert Surtees was a legendary cinematographer who earned three Oscars among thirteen nominations. Black-and-white or color, it didn't matter; he could capture the best of them as illustrated in Quo Vadis, The Bad and the Beautiful, Raintree County, Ben-Hur, the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty, The Last Picture Show, and The Great Waldo Pepper.


  25. Geoffrey Unsworth

  26. A two-time Oscar winner whose work spanned four decades, Geoffrey Unsworth excelled the most in creating unforgettable period and sci-fi pictures such as The Purple Plain, A Night to Remember, The World of Suzie Wong, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Cromwell, Cabaret, Murder on the Orient Express, A Bridge Too Far, and Superman.


  27. David Watkin

  28. If you loved the opening scene of Chariots of Fire, it was shot by David Watkin. His sole Oscar win went to one of the most stunning-looking picture of all time: Out of Africa. A big advocate of the bounce light as a soft light source, he didn't get enough credit for his work on The Devils, Mahogany, and Yentl.


  29. Gordon Willis

  30. A longtime favorite of Woody Allen, Alan J. Pakula, and James Bridges, Gordon Willis didn't get the moniker "The Prince of Darkness" for nothing. He could highlight the degree of blackness as seen through The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and The Godfather Part III. Another masterpiece in his filmography was Comes a Horseman. Unfortunately, Gordon Willis never won an Oscar in his lifetime.




Honorable Mentions: Henri Decaë, Caleb Deschanel, Arthur Edeson, Richard H. Kline, László Kovács, Michael Seresin, John Toll, Jost Vacano, Haskell Wexler, and Freddie Young