Ο cinematographer στα ελληνικά δεν αποδίδεται "κινηματογραφιστής". Μπορεί να αποδοθεί ως οπερατέρ ή διευθυντής φωτογραφίας. Το αν είναι συνώνυμες αυτές οι λέξεις αποτελεί αντικείμενο διαφωνίας μεταξύ εκείνων που χρησιμοποιούν τον όρο cinematographer.
Κινηματογραφιστής ο [kinimatoγrafistís] θηλ. κινηματογραφίστρια [kinimatoγrafístria] : αυτός που ασχολείται με το γύρισμα κινηματογραφικών ταινιών, ιδίως σκηνοθέτης του κινηματογράφου.
Cinematographer = A photographer who operates a movie camera. Synonyms: cameraman, camera operator.
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera (the art and science of which is known as cinematography). The title is generally equivalent to director of photography (DP), used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image. The term cinematographer has been a point of contention for some time now; some professionals insist that it only applies when the director of photography and camera operator are the same person, although this is far from being uniformly the case. To most, cinematographer and director of photography are interchangeable terms.
The English system of camera department hierarchy sometimes firmly separates the duties of the director of photography from that of the camera operator to the point that the DP often has no say whatsoever over more purely operating-based visual elements such as framing. In this case, the DP is often credited as a lighting cameraperson. This system means that the director consults the lighting cameraman for lighting and filtration and the operator for framing and lens choices.
In the American system, which is more widely adopted, the rest of the camera department is subordinate to the DP, who, along with the director, has the final word on all decisions related to both lighting and framing.