Customer Reviews

American Cinematographer Manual, Ninth Edition 2 Vol Set

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Also known as "The Cinematographers Bible", this thick hand-sized pocket book is an absolute must for anybody who owns or uses a 16mm, Super 16mm, 35mm, Super 35mm or 70mm motion picture camera (movie cameras). IT WILL NOT TEACH YOU CINEMATOGRAPHY! It is a technical manual to be used when shooting on film and has since become the industry standard book that most amateur and professional cinematographers own and use. Motion pictures cameras are also built around the specifications laid down in this book.

Essentially the first 100 pages deal with all the different types of motion picture cameras, their internal mechanisms, technical details and threading paths. Then the book goes on to dealing with motion picture film itself, the various brands that are available, differences between black and white, color and a bit about the development process of each one. Again, technically detailed. There is also very valuable charts on film lengths and running times according to fps. The lens section is very technical covering the different types of lenses and the most important focal length, distance to subject, measuring charts that is really the most widely used part of this book. There is a massive section on filters, exposure and emulsion testing.

The book then deals with lighting and covers the various aspects of lighting types, bulbs, filters and exposure techniques, all highly technical in nature with references to charts and illustrations. The book ends with a coverage of visual special effects that can be done with the motion picture camera and other special techniques that the cinematographer will need to know about.

You will need this book if you are shooting on film, end of story. If you are looking for a manual that teaches cinematography then choose CINEMATOGRAPHY by Kris Malkiewicz instead. As a note, there is a lot of new digital cinematography cameras on the up and coming that work on digital video tape and not film and many new filmmakers may be advised to check out this route as a cheaper and less costly way of shooting their first film.

Anybody who plans on working with REAL film should own this, learn it, know portions of it backwards and forwards and use it to their advantage.

It basically answers ANY questions you may have concerning principal filmmaking, and some very help hints when trying to accomplish various optical and special effects in camera.

Get it, or suffer the consequences.

As a graduating film student who is working on a thesis film, I have come to rely solely on this manual. It has absolutely every bit of information that any aspiring filmmaker could need. I've come to call it my "Bible" of filmmaking. Check it out! You won't regret it!

Awesome all the way around! Product was new, exactly what I wanted, and was shipped quickly...