Salvatore Totino, ASC, AIC

"I fell in love with the Hawk V‑Lites on 65. Because I want to do some Steadicam and remote head work, I wanted lighter lenses. We tested, and the directors really love the look of the Hawks, especially the wider focal lengths. Wide open, there’s a little bit of banding at the edges, which I like to embrace ... read more

Richard Van Oosterhout, NSC, SBC

“For me, lenses are the most important tools. If I had to choose between getting the right lenses and giving up the lighting package I want, I know which choice I’d make. I have always respected the Hawk philosophy. In addition to their excellent lenses, they always try very hard to help you out and get what you need on a project... read more

Terry Stacey, ASC

“The contrast of the class-X is perfect. You get this amazing cream feel, but it’s sharp and clean and it doesn’t feel flat. There’s a lot of dimensionality and the color rendition is amazing. We didn’t need to use much diffusion. They’re fast, and they match across all focal lengths, so you can swap them out. There’s less distortion top and bottom, which is good... read more

Christopher Aoun, BVK

“Sometimes I had as many as seven or eight filters on top of each other. So in terms of the lenses, I needed sharpness almost like a spherical lens, but not spherical. The class-X gave me that sharpness. It was like a blank page where I could play with my filters and maintain crispness in a way I couldn’t with any other anamorphic lenses... read more

Magdalena Gorka, ASC, PSC

“The glass is so beautiful – I call it a suede quality. The One4s have the quality of anamorphic in a spherical lens, and yet they can see more than your eyes can see at night. To me, these lenses are the height of engineering, giving cinematographers more options as we work to create interesting shots... read more

Christopher Blauvelt

“We chose Super 16mm anamorphic because of its beautiful curvature and focus fall-off. We wanted the camera to be close to Amy Jo, to create an intimacy with her and the things she’s going through. So the attributes of anamorphic helped to intensify the focus on our girl, and let the world around her become a tragic but beautiful surrounding ... read more

Daniel Pearl, ASC

“The people at Vantage are some of the most forward-thinking motion picture equipment designers and inventors of our time. Throughout my career, I’ve always sought out ways to do what has never been done with motion imaging, and they are constantly coming up with brilliant ideas and tools that help us do that ... read more

Stuart Dryburgh, ASC, NZCS

“One of the things I like about the Hawks is that they’re very clean, very undistorted, but at the same time, they’re not so sharp that you’re seeing every pore of somebody’s face. They’re kind. They’re nice. They’re not too contrasty, and they flare a little bit, in a good way ... read more

Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS

“The reason we chose the T1 lenses for the project was that they gave us a really lovely, shallow depth of field. I find that those lenses work really well on faces, because the focus fall off is really quite stunning and beautiful. We were using them for their close-focus capability, which is a great attribute as well ... read more

Eric Edwards

“The Hawk Anamorphics are very specific lenses, and the glass has significant personality, enough for it to be a formalistic choice. It’s a subjective choice, and what Hawk Anamorphics do, I’ve never seen any other lens set do. It has to do primarily with the distortions that are designed into the lens – very specific, aesthetic artifacts ... read more

Oliver Stapleton, BSC

In years past, Stapleton worked with a range of anamorphic glass, but about ten years ago, he discovered the Hawks. “I really liked the way they were constructed, mechanically. I liked the feel of them. I thought, ‘These are seriously beautifully made lenses.’ I felt they had a really good look, and I started down the road of using them ... read more

Danny Hiele

“To me, anamorphic is very faithful to what you see with your eyes,” says Hiele. “The most faithful is 65 mm film, followed by anamorphic. The contrast and sharpness have always been close to what I’ve seen in the eyepiece. And at the same time, it creates a peaceful, restful panorama to view landscapes, portraits, or even macro shots... read more

Linus Sandgren, ASC, FSF

“If we had just shot spherical and cropped the image, it wouldn’t be as interesting. We considered old school vintage lenses, but anamorphic made it look more interesting and epic. When you shoot digital, you almost have to shoot anamorphic to keep it from being too clean and boring. You need to do something to create magic... read more

Markus Förderer, ASC, BVK

I’ve tested lower-resolution sensors with very sharp lenses, and I prefer the high resolution sensor with the Hawk glass. The Front Anamorphic Zooms give me a totally different look and bokeh,” says Förderer. “The rear anamorphic designs look spherical, in a way. You end up with something that looks like a mix of spherical and anamorphic... read more

Ian Moss

I have spent many years painting on canvas, using different materials. It is my belief that lenses are the photographic equivalent to the painter's brush... a well worn companion easy to manipulate, but ultimately achieving a recognizable feeling. Using the VantageOne T1 lenses is like using a new brush; they are more demanding and guide you in different ways... read more

Scott Williams

“I came to cinematography from gaffing, so I’ve always been a lighting guy,” says Williams. “Lenses have different qualities, but I’ve always felt that there’s nothing I can’t do better with a light or a flag. But these lenses add some magic. I can’t tell you why, but it’s wonderful. I just found myself looking at that monitor saying, ‘Wow. . . that is different... read more

Jaime Reynoso, AMC

“I heard about Vantage One lenses on a commercial, but Outsiders was the first project where I was able to use them,” says Reynoso. I heard someone say, ‘With these lenses, it’s no longer ‘which eye do you want in focus?’ It’s now ‘which eyelash?’ And I was intrigued. I fell in love with them right off the bat... read more

Vladimir Smutný, AČK

“Hawk V‑Lite lenses have a style of their own,” says Smutný. “They have some interesting distortion and are less sharp along the top edges of the image. The way the edges fall off a bit was just right for The Painted Bird. We turned these optical traits into storytelling tools... read more

James Whitaker, ASC

“Once we decided to go 2.39, we immediately began testing a bunch of lenses,” says Whitaker. “Hawk has made beautiful anamorphic lenses for a long time. But recently, the stuff they’ve come out with is just amazing. I landed on the Hawk Vintage ’74 primes and zooms as our main lenses ... read more

Roberto Schaefer, ASC, AIC

“We looked at the tests, and Elizabeth really loved the way the C‑Series looked,” says Schaefer. “They have a lovely softness, yet they are still sharp and still anamorphic. They fall off on the edges and are a little dreamy-looking. They bring a bigger feel to the images. We shot the whole film on them – they were great ... read more

Jonathan Sela, ASC

“When we started on Deadpool 2, I really wanted to keep working with the Vintage ‘74s, but I felt they were a little too low in contrast, flarey and hazy for this movie,” says Sela. “I wanted something in the middle, and I didn’t want to do it with filtration. I called Vantage and asked for ideas, and coincidentally they had been experimenting ... read more

Michael McDonough, ASC, BSC

"The pilot was shot in 2.40:1 aspect ratio, and the other episodes are framed in a 16:9 extraction. “It’s worth it, for everything that anamorphic gives you,” McDonough says. “The drop-off, the focus, the beautiful bokeh and flares. I look at the image and I feel it’s cinematic, even in 16:9. The Vintage 74s give me what I’m looking for ... read more

James Laxton, ASC

“There was a creative need to be a little nontraditional,” says Laxton. “I wanted something subtle that still gave me a little extra in terms of style. I tested the Hawk 1.3x anamorphics and felt they were a great choice for this show. The 1.3x squeeze worked well with the 4:3 sensor, resulting in a 16:9 aspect ratio ... read more

Vanja Černjul, ASC

“I’ve used the 1.3x Hawks a lot, in many different applications,” says Černjul. “I’ve used them in combination with 16 mm to create a widescreen image. I’ve used them with Super 35 for a 1.85:1 image with some anamorphic traits. And what’s beautiful is that Vantage has added some amazing 1.3x anamorphic zooms that now come ... read more

Marcus Kanter, BVK, AAC

"I knew I needed a strong camera and lens set-up to give it the right aesthetic,” says Kanter. “All cinematographers want to make things a bit more stylish, but it’s difficult when you’re working all locations with very little money.
The One4 lenses from Vantage have soul! ... read more

Janusz Kamiński

"These Hawk lenses are great because they resolve well across the field. There’s the distortion at the edge, but that means, depending on the composition, I can turn left or right to get more of the effect. That was really good for me. And the flares are really unusual. In that particular movie, we used the brightness of the light to tell the story... read more