IndieWire reached out to the cinematography nominees for the 75th Emmy Awards (Emmys). Once again, we used the data to build a chart and find tendencies. It seems that Sony takes the lead with the VENICE. Also, it’s a nice surprise to explore the Kinefinity MAVO Edge and the Blackmagic URSA 12K in that prestige list. Furthermore, there’s a solid presence of RED too.
75th Emmy Awards: Cinematography nominees and cameras
The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards will honor the best in American prime-time television programming from June 1, 2022, until May 31, 2023, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony will be broadcast on Fox on January 15, 2024, with the Creative Arts Emmys on January 6 and 7, at the Peacock Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California, following a delay from September 2023 due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Nominations were announced on July 12, 2023. As the tradition calls, IndieWire reached out to the 75th Emmy Awards’ cinematography nominees to find out which tools they used to shoot the nominated episodes. Here’s the full article on IndieWire. Y.M.CINEMA gathered the data to build a chart in order to explore tendency and segmentation (if any). Luckily, we found some. First, here’s the list below, which contains 26 nominees for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour), Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour), Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program and Reality Program:
- “100 Foot Wave”: Category: Nonfiction Program. Nominated Episode: “Force Majeure Chapter VI”. Camera: RED V-Raptor. Lenses: Canon RF 50mm f1.2
- “The 1619 Project”: Category: Nonfiction Program. Nominated Episode: “Justice”. Cameras: Sony FX9, Sony A7SIII, Bolex H16 Rex 5, Panasonic PV-L501 VHS-C camcorder. Lenses: Cooke mini S4/i Cine primes, Fujinon MK Cine Zooms, Bolex Switar 10mm, 25mm RX
- “The Amazing Race”: Category: Reality Program. Nominated Episode: “Body Of Work”. Cameras: Sony FX9. Lenses: Sony 20-70, 100-400, Canon 17-120, Canon 25-250
- “Andor”: Category: Series (One-Hour) Nominated Episode: “Rix Road”. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Panavision C and G Series
- “Atlanta”: Category: Series (Half-Hour). Nominated Episode: “Andrew Wythe. Alfred’s World”. Camera: ARRI Mini LF. Lenses: Olympus OM Zuikos by Zero Optik
- “Barry”: Category: Series (Half-Hour). Nominated Episode: “Tricky Legacies”. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: ARRI Master Primes
- “Black Bird”: Category: Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Nominated Episode: “Hand To Mouth”. Camera: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses: Panavision H Series
- “Boston Strangler”: Category: Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Camera: ARRI ALEXA 65. Lenses: ARRI DNA
- “The Crown”: Category: Series (One-Hour) Nominated Episode: “Mou Mou”. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Cooke S4/i
- “Dead Ringers”: Category: Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Nominated Episode: “One”. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Panavision G Series
- “The Deadliest Catch”: Category: Reality Program. Nominated Episode: “Call of a New Generation”. Camera: RED: Epic Dragon. Lenses: Canon Sumire
- “George And Tammy”: Category: Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Nominated Episode: “Stand By Your Man”. Camera: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Canon K-35 Prime
- “Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities”: Category: Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Nominated Episode: “The Autopsy”. Camera: RED Weapon 8k. Lenses: Zeiss Supreme and Compact Zoom
- “House of the Dragon”: Category: Series (One-Hour). Nominated Episode: “The Lord of the Tides”. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA 65 and ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses: Prime DNA
- “How I Met Your Father”: Category: Series (Half-Hour). Nominated Episode: “Daddy”. Cameras: Sony F55. Lenses: Panavsion Primo Zoom
- “The Mandalorian”: Category: Series (Half-Hour). Nominated Episode: “Chapter 20: The Foundling”. Cameras: ARRIFLEX 35
- “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”: Category: Series (One-Hour). Nominated Episode: “Four Minutes”. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA Mini. Lenses: Panavision Primo
- “The Old Man”: Category: Series (One-Hour). Nominated Episode: “I”. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses: ARRI Master Anamorphic
- “Only Murders in the Building”: Category: Series (Half-Hour). Nominated Episode: “I Know Who Did It”. Cameras: Sony VENICE. Lenses: Leitz Prime and Zoom
- “Schmigadoon!”: Category: Series (Half-Hour). Nominated Episode: “Something Real”. Cameras: Sony VENICE 2. Lens: Zeiss Supreme Radiance
- “Secrets of the Elephants”: Category: Nonfiction Program. Nominated Episode: “Deserts”. Cameras: Kinefinity MAVO Edge, RED Gemini. Lenses: Canon 50-1000
- “Survivor”: Category: Reality Program. Nominated Episode: “I Can’t Wait To See Jeff”. Cameras: Sony PXW-2750, RED V- Raptor. Lenses: HD ENG lenses
- “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”: Category: Nonfiction Program. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA Mini LF. Lenses: ARRI Moviecam Primes
- “The Territory”: Category: Nonfiction Program. Cameras: Sony FS7, Sony FX6, Sony FX9. Lenses: Sigma Art, Laowa Probe
- “Wednesday”: Category: Series (One-Hour). Nominated Episode: “Woe What A Night”. Cameras: ARRI ALEXA LF, ARRI ALEXA Mini LF, RED Komodo. Lenses: Zeiss Super Speeds
- “Welcome to Wrexham”: Category: Reality Program. Nominated Episode: “Do Or Die”. Cameras: Blackmagic URSA Mini PRO 12K. Lenses: Zeiss Superspeeds, Angeniuex PL Zooms, Canon PL zooms.
Camera manufacturers chart
Based on that list, here’s the Camera Manufacturers Chart:
Camera Chart
Explore the Emmys 2023 Camera Chart below:
Discussion
First, it’s important to note that we included only cinema cameras, and excluded cameras that are not defined as ‘cinema’ (consumer mirrorless cameras, broadcast cameras, and so on). The charts clearly demonstrate a solid domination of Sony and ARRI. However, Sony made a huge step forward with its VENICE. We do think that the recently announced BURANO will dominate this list even further, as it combines a very capable cinema camera together with a very capable documentary camera that can be easily operated by a sole operator. When comparing the 2023 chart to previous years’ charts, it can be summarized that the Sony VENICE has taken back first place over the ARRI Minis (S35 and LF). Have a look at the previous years’ charts below:
BTW, for the lenses behind Emmys see here and here. Furthermore, the 2023 Chart is emphasized by camera diversity, although, there’s a very low amount of film cameras in it, unfortunately. Moreover, the chart shows elevated usage of legacy RED cameras (DSMC2 models). However, the nicest surprise is to explore Kinefinity with its flagship, the MAVO Edge, This camera shot the excellent “The Secret Life of Elephants” nonfiction program, together with the RED Gemini. Also, we are delighted to see the Blackmagic URSA 12K, which was used to shoot “Welcome to Wrexham”. These two cameras can produce stunning imagery, and we hope to find them on narrative awards as well.
Why do you say that the VENICE leads when it has the exact same number (6) as the Mini LF?
ARRI has been always 1st place. The VENICE made the most significant jump. So it deserves the title (our personal opinion).
I agree, Jules. VENICE doesn’t lead at all. The title of this article is misleading and “personal opinion” doesn’t have anything to do with it. Very disappointing that Yossy would write that.
@Yossy then change the title to “Venice makes the biggest jump.” But the current title is simply misleading and a lot of people nowadays only read the titles without reading the article (social media, google search, etc.)
Correction: In nominee 21, the correct title is “Secrets of the Elephants”. The one that you wrote, “The Secret Life of Elephants”, is a doc series from 2009.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3149940/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26351129/
Corrected. Thank you 🙏
The near total lack of film cameras is incredibly disappointing. Are you sure The Mandalorian episode noted above was shot with the ARRIFLEX 35? Are you sure it wasn’t the ALEXA 35? I didn’t think any film cameras had been used on that show (sadly).