American Cinematographer - January 1993 - 45

Panavision recently brought

togetherfive award-winning
cinematographers to hear
their experiences and assess¬
ments ofour Primofamily of
lenses. These excerpts are
takenfrom that conversation.

Spinotti: I use Panavision and
Primo lenses because you're
covered

no

matter what your

flares on the camera,
the end the quality is

and in
much
better, contrast is much better.
Semler: I've found them

incredibly valuable in shooting
low light conditions, wide open,
which you tend not to want to
do a lot because of what hap¬
pens when you open up a lens
too full. I find you can do that
confidently with the Primos.

cals, because we were carrying
the

camera

was no

around and there

way to use

light stands.

And I was amazed by the way
the flare held so much .We could

actually bring up the value of
these lights enough to light the
scene and still there
flare there.

was no

Actually the set looked like
it had been lit by some other

When you start seeing the results...
it becomes kind ofexciting"
requirements are, wherever
you go, you know they'll solve
your problems.
Fraker: I think you have to use
'em a little bit in order to really
get the benefit from 'em. Once
you start to see them and start
to begin to like things that the
Primos offer, then I think you
say "OK let's try one more step
further and one more step
further'.'
It's tough to step out

of the
security blanket, believe me.
But then again, when you start
to get a little braver and start
seeing the results you start
saying "OK, here I go!'
And it becomes kind of

exciting.
Rousselot: There's

one

very

important thing when you
compare them to any other
lenses: the flare factor. You can
shoot at bright skies and you'll
end up with bright skies, but

you're not washed out, which
is great. You don't get as many

The first time I used them
I

shooting available light
on Sunset Boulevard at night. It
was, like, five or six foot candles
at the most, and I didn't light
the street at all, except for a
was

little bit of fill on the actors in
the foreground, which I lit with
sodium light to match the
street lights.
And the lenses

hidden kind of lighting but it
wasn't. It was just the ability
of the lens to hold the flare.
Roizman: One thing about
the Primos that I really like
is the consistency of the color
from one lens to the other.
That takes out a big, big factor
when you go to time the final

print. They're consistent and
just
they match.
Semler: I feel totally confident
extraordinary. The detail that
popped out. Car headlights com¬ that I can go from one end of
the aperture scale to the other
ing straight into the lens, but
this time without those terrible without any worries, without
flares that you normally get.
any problems.
The street lights didn't blow out, Roizman: I know I'm going
the blacks stayed black, and
to get on film what I'm seeing
the amount of detail, in walls
through the lens. I'm not get¬
and streets, and the true colors
ting fooled by flares, by kicks...
of cars was exceptional.
the lens will reproduce the
Spinotti: A thing that hap¬
image as close to what I see
as I've ever had. And that's
pened to me, we had to shoot
in a subway station in London,
important, because you don't
which was actually supposed
to be Rome, the Vatican. A very
long set. We started with these
practical which were red and
white-very bright-which we
set on top of the station all the
way across. Most of the station
had to be lit with these practiwere

have to put a light on and
say, "well now, am I throwing
even more

light here, less light

here..!' You don't have to guess
as much.
Semler: Less testing-the
amount of tests we often used
to do on our lenses before a

picture was ridiculous. We'd
test many, many, many lenses...
it became a long process of
elimination. With Primos
that's reduced enormously be¬
cause

up

they all

to be right

seem

to scratch.

Fraker: That's

one

of the

security blankets that I was
talking about, the fact that
you can look through that
lens, and-I agree with Owen-
you're going to get just about
what you see. That's a

major,
major form of security for me.
I know that I can go beyond
it or below it, which allows me
to go where I want to go.

Rousselot: Primos

are

very

crisp, they are very on focus
and they are not harsh. I've
used them without any dif¬
fusion and got away with it.
Usually I would have to take
up nets just to soften the image,
but not using any diffusion I
could get the crispness but
not the harshness.
Semler: I think you

learn
maybe light a little more
dramatically, or it might be
easier to light because the
Primos are more forgiving.
Whereas in the past you'd be
filling more or playing it safer.
There's less to do now, be¬
to

the Primos
it better.
cause

can

handle
American Cinematographer - January 1993

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - January 1993
