IndieWire has published its annual survey regarding the 74th Emmy cinematography nominees. As the tradition calls, Y.M.Cinema Magazine has transformed this data into camera charts, which show us that the Sony VENICE goes head to head with the ARRI ALEXA Mini. Furthermore, there’s a first appearance of the RED V-Raptor, plus a solid presence of film cameras. Check out the data below.

Emmy 2022: The cameras

The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards will honor the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2021, until May 31, 2022, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). The awards ceremony is planned to be held live on September 12, 2022, and will be preceded by the 74th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on September 3 and 4, at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, California.

IndieWire has approached the Directors of Photography that shot the Emmys 2022 Cinematography Nominees. As stated by IndieWire: “As we have in the past, IndieWire reached out to this year’s nominees for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour), Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour), and Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and asked them which cameras and lenses they used — but even more important: Why were these the right tools to create the look of their series?”. You can read the entire IndieWire article here.  .Y.M.Cinema Magazine has transformed this ‘camera data’ into charts, in order to explore cameras were used the most. Explore the list below:

Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour)

• “Euphoria”: Nominated Episode – “The Theater and Its Double”. Cameras – ARRICAM LT, ARRI 435
• “Loki”: Nominated Episode – “Lamentis”. Cameras – Sony VENICE
• “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”:: Nominated Episode – “How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?”. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini
• “Ozark”: Nominated Episode – “A Hard Way to Go”. Cameras – Sony VENICE
• “Squid Game”: Nominated Episode: “Stick to the Team”. Cameras- RED Weapon Monstro
• “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”: Nominated Episode – “Pieces of a Man”. Cameras – Panavision XL2, ARRI 416

Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour)

• “Atlanta”: Nominated Episode – “Three Slaps”. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA MiniLF
• “Barry”: Nominated Episode – “Starting Now”. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini
• “Grown-ish”: Nominated Episode- “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See”. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini
• “Hacks”: Nominated Episode – “The Click”. Cameras – RED V-Raptor
• “Insecure”: Nominated Episode – “Reunited, Okay?”. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini
• “Russian Doll”: Nominated Episode – “Nowhen”. Cameras – Sony VENICE

Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

• “Dopesick”: Nominated Episode – “Breakthrough Pain”. Cameras – Sony VENICE; SONY FX3
• “Gaslit”: Nominated Episode – “Will”. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini
• “Moon Knight”: Nominated Episode – “Asylum”. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini LF
• “Station Eleven”: Nominated Episode – “Wheel of Fire”. Cameras – ARRI ALEXA Mini LF

Emmys 2022: Cinematography nominees – Camera chart

Explore the chart below that shows the dominant cameras that shot the nominated movies/series for Outstanding Cinematography: 

Discussion

It’s amazing how the ARRI ALEXA Mini remains its popularity among top filmmakers, in spite of other great alternatives with larger sensors. A for full-frame sensor, the chosen tool seems to be the Sony VENICE. Actually, the VENICE dominated this list regarding Emmys 2020 (see charts below). At Emmys 2021, the ALEXA LF took 1st place. It’s intriguing to reveal that there’s no ALEXA LF in the current list. Instead, there’s the Mini LF located in third place. Another camera that is absent from the list compared to previous lists, is the Panavision DXL2. It’s quite a surprise because the DXL2 is still a very popular camera by high-end productions.

However, in Emmys 2022, DPs have chosen to shoot with the XL2. Talking about film cameras, in Emmys 2022 there’s a solid presence of ARRIFLEX 435, 416, and ARRICAM. Nowadays, it’s quite rare to shoot a series with film cameras, however, it’s a good sign for the industry, as shooting on film is the pure filmmaking process in terms of many aspects. As for RED, the V-Raptor makes its first appearance on the Emmy list. We expect that the V-Raptor 8K will become a very popular choice for shooting single-camera series. Finally, there’s the Sony FX3 (as B-Cam) that can be fairly paired with the mighty VENICE. It’s nice to explore that Sony mirrorless cameras find their way to the list (for instance, it was the Alpha in Emmy 2021). To sum it up, ARRI ALEXA Mini wins again, especially when Super 35 imagery is desired. However, when a large format is needed, then the Sony VENICE is the preferred choice.

Let’s know your insights about that list. Are you surprised to see the ARRI ALEXA Mini dominates again and again, even in the era of large format cinematography?

BTW, as a tribute to the mighty 65mm format, we’ve created the Y.M.CINEMA 65 which is a perfect gift for cinephiles — explore it on our website.