High-end filmmaking has long been a discipline in which huge efforts were made to put the most capable equipment in the most interesting places, but ever since crews hauled 65mm into the deep desert for Lawrence of Arabia, ambitious cinematographers have pushed for smaller, easier gear.

Better film stocks and digital cameras helped cinematographers in their pursuit for lightweight filmmaking, but the dimensions of lenses were fixed by the laws of physics until computer-aided optical design – and much faster cameras – made lighter options possible.

Those lightweight options became particularly relevant to Xavier Dolléans AFC on Rivages, directed by David Hourrègue for France TV. Planning an ambitious slate of photography on and under the sea, Dolléans needed equipment to suit a variety of underwater housings and surface grip equipment. “We wanted to be full frame to have a shallow depth of field. We shot in, below and above the sea, on a crane running with a heavy head, but mostly with a Ronin as a remote head. We shot in a water tank studio and in many different setups.”

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