American Cinematographer - November 2015 - 44

A

A Collaboration Among Vendors

lthough Hoyte van Hoytema,
FSF, NSC is a confirmed film
aficionado, he decided that, due to the
extremely low light levels, it was more
prudent to shoot Spectre's nighttime
boat chase on the Thames with a digital camera. He opted to shoot with
Arri's recently introduced Alexa 65
because of its resolution, and he
wanted to pair the camera with
Panavision's new Primo 70 lenses
because they open to T2.
ASC associate Dan Sasaki,
Panavision's VP of optical engineering, explains that Arri Managing
Director Franz Kraus and Panavision
CEO Kim Snyder - both of whom
are also ASC associate members -
agreed to work together to deliver this
cross-company equipment package to
the Spectre filmmakers.
American Cinematographer:
Putting the Primo 70 lenses on the
Alexa 65 involved a historic collaboration between Arri and Panavision.
Dan Sasaki: We had a dinner
together when we finished, and Franz
Kraus commented that, for years,
neither of us would have allowed a
competitor's employee into the building!
We had a great collaboration
with Arri. A small team from
Panavision went to Munich prior to

44

November 2015

the principal photography of Spectre to
ensure that the adaptation of the Primo
70s for the Alexa 65 went well. We met
with the Arri design team and we
found some optical problems, because
there were a lot of unknowns. So we did
some research and development there
to figure out what we needed to modify
or change. Everything worked out very
nicely, and things went pretty smoothly
for Spectre.
What kind of modifications did
you make?
Sasaki: The Primo 70s were
developed for a different optical low
pass filter scheme than the Alexa 65s, so
we had to include compensation
elements in the optical path behind the
lenses. This was on the adapter inside
the camera. We also changed some
coatings.
Did you do any mechanical
modifications?
Sasaki: Arri made a universal
base for the Alexa 65, which made it
adaptable to our Panavision 70 mount.
So we made half the mechanical
coupling and Arri made the other half.
What were van Hoytema's
requirements?
Sasaki: The fact that the Primo
70s performed well at T2 was very
important to Hoyte. He was happy
with the way the lenses handled flares

American Cinematographer

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and random glare during his initial tests,
but he was shooting down the Thames
where he didn't have control of all the
lights, and he didn't want unforeseen
surprises showing up. So we did another
battery of tests to look at the flare and
glare, and that was another factor that
prompted a change in the coatings to a
much higher tolerance than we originally had.
Will there be more projects
pairing the Primo 70s and Alexa 65?
Sasaki: Yes, for example
Passengers, an upcoming film to be shot
by Rodrigo Prieto, ASC, AMC.
Hoyte tells us that you also
'tuned' his anamorphic lenses.
Sasaki: Yes, we did optical and
mechanical adjustments to his C Series
[lenses] - which were first used on
Interstellar [AC Dec. '14] - to get close
focus to about 2½ feet, and we
customized the coating to make the
flare more diffuse and reduce its blue
component. We also built a custom
65mm lens for Hoyte that is very close
focus.
- Benjamin B

Photo courtesy of Panavision.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 2015
