Today's Blind Items - The Lenses

This cinematographer (A), who hails from north of the border, has a very long and eclectic resume filled with cult classics. In the early 1990s, he wanted to shoot this airplane thriller (B) with a certain set of lenses, as well as his preferred camera. The studio (C) insisted he use the cameras and lenses from this big camera company (D) everyone knows. So our cinematographer proposed a blind “Pepsi Challenge” where he shot footage with his preferred equipment, and footage with the big company’s equipment. The studio accepted the challenge, and ended up picking the camera and lenses he liked.

A few days later, he was summoned to the screening room at the big camera company. They played his test back for him and spent the next hour chewing him out and threatening his career. They explained that the studio owned most of their stock, and were forcing productions to use their cameras in order to shut out competition from overseas camera and lens makers. The company supplying our cinematographer’s favorite lenses (E) was based in London. The very next year, the big camera company attempted to buy them out, with the aim of locking these lenses away. A decade later they did buy the company out.