The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture.
1920s
1930s
From 1939, there were separate awards for Black and White and for Color:
1940s
- 1940 - George Barnes, Rebecca (B&W)
- 1941 - Arthur C. Miller, How Green Was My Valley (B&W)
- 1942 - Joseph Ruttenberg, Mrs. Miniver (B&W)
- 1943 - Arthur C. Miller, The Song of Bernadette (B&W)
- 1944 - Joseph LaShelle, Laura (B&W)
- 1945 - Harry Stradling, Picture of Dorian Gray (B&W)
- 1946 - Arthur C. Miller, Anna and the King of Siam (B&W)
- 1947 - Guy Green, Great Expectations (B&W)
- 1948 - William Daniels, The Naked City (B&W)
- 1949 - Paul C. Vogel, Battleground (B&W)
1950s
For 1957, there was a single award:
From 1958, there were separate awards for Black and White and for Color:
1960s
From 1967, there was a single award again:
1970s
- 1970 - Freddie Young, Ryan's Daughter
- Fred Koenekamp, Patton
- Ernest Laszlo, Airport
- Charles F. Wheeler, Osami Furuya, Sinsaku Himeda and Masamichi Satoh, Tora! Tora! Tora!
- Billy Williams, Women in Love
- 1971 - Oswald Morris, Fiddler on the Roof
- Owen Roizman, The French Connection
- Robert Surtees, The Last Picture Show
- Robert Surtees, Summer of '42
- Freddie Young, Nicholas and Alexandra
- 1972 - Geoffrey Unsworth, Cabaret
- Charles B. Lang, Butterflies Are Free
- Douglas Slocombe, Travels With My Aunt
- Harold E. Stine, The Poseidon Adventure
- Harry Stradling, Jr., 1776
- 1973 - Sven Nykvist, Cries and Whispers
- Jack Couffer, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
- Owen Roizman, The Exorcist
- Harry Stradling, Jr., The Way We Were
- Robert Surtees, The Sting
- 1974 - Fred Koenekamp and Joseph Biroc, The Towering Inferno
- John A. Alonzo, Chinatown
- Philip Lathrop, Earthquake
- Bruce Surtees, Lenny
- Geoffrey Unsworth, Murder on the Orient Express
- 1975 - John Alcott, Barry Lyndon
- Conrad Hall, The Day of the Locust
- James Wong Howe, Funny Lady
- Robert Surtees, The Hindenburg
- Haskell Wexler and Bill Butler, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- 1976 - Haskell Wexler, Bound for Glory
- Richard H. Kline, King Kong
- Ernest Laszlo, Logan's Run
- Owen Roizman, Network
- Robert Surtees, A Star Is Born
- 1977 - Vilmos Zsigmond, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- William A. Fraker, Looking for Mr. Goodbar
- Fred J. Koenekamp, Islands in the Stream
- Douglas Slocombe, Julia
- Robert Surtees, The Turning Point
- 1978 - Nestor Almendros, Days of Heaven
- William A. Fraker, Heaven Can Wait
- Oswald Morris, The Wiz
- Robert Surtees, Same Time, Next Year
- Vilmos Zsigmond, The Deer Hunter
- 1979 - Vittorio Storaro, Apocalypse Now
- Nestor Almendros, Kramer vs. Kramer
- William A. Fraker, 1941
- Frank Phillips, The Black Hole
- Giuseppe Rotunno, All That Jazz
1980s
- 1980 - Geoffrey Unsworth and Ghislaine Cloquet, Tess
- Nestor Almendros, The Blue Lagoon
- Ralf D. Bode, Coal Miner's Daughter
- Michael Chapman, Raging Bull
- James Crabe, The Formula
- 1981 - Vittorio Storaro, Reds
- 1982 - Billy Williams and Ronnie Taylor, Gandhi
- 1983 - Sven Nykvist, Fanny and Alexander
- Caleb Deschanel, The Right Stuff
- William A. Fraker, WarGames
- Don Peterman, Flashdance
- Gordon Willis, Zelig
- 1984 - Chris Menges, The Killing Fields
- Ernest Day, A Passage to India
- Caleb Deschanel, The Natural
- Miroslav Ondricek, Amadeus
- Vilmos Zsigmond, The River
- 1985 - David Watkin, Out of Africa
- Allen Daviau, The Color Purple
- William A. Fraker, Murphy's Romance
- Takao Saito, Masaharu Ueda and Asakazu Nakai, Ran
- John Seale, Witness
- 1986 - Chris Menges, The Mission
- Jordan Cronenweth, Peggy Sue Got Married
- Don Peterman, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Tony Pierce-Roberts, A Room With a View
- Robert Richardson, Platoon
- 1987 - Vittorio Storaro , The Last Emperor
- Michael Ballhaus, Broadcast News
- Allen Daviau, Empire of the Sun
- Philippe Rousselot, Hope and Glory
- Haskell Wexler, Matewan
- 1988 - Peter Biziou, Mississippi Burning
- Dean Cundey, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- Conrad L. Hall, Tequila Sunrise
- Sven Nykvist, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
- John Seale, Rain Man
- 1989 - Freddie Francis, Glory
- Michael Ballhaus, The Fabulous Baker Boys
- Robert Richardson, Born on the Fourth of July
- Mikael Salomon, The Abyss
- Haskell Wexler, Blaze
1990s
- 1990 - Dean Semler, Dances with Wolves
- 1991 - Robert Richardson, JFK
- 1992 - Philippe Rousselot, A River Runs Through It
- 1993 - Janusz Kaminski, Schindler's List
- 1994 - John Toll, Legends of the Fall
- 1995 - John Toll, Braveheart
- 1996 - John Seale, The English Patient
- 1997 - Russell Carpenter, Titanic
- 1998 - Janusz Kaminski, Saving Private Ryan
- 1999 - Conrad Hall, American Beauty
2000s
Academy Awards
Oscar/Beste Kamera | Oscar a la mejor fotografía | Oscar alla migliore fotografia | Oscar-díj a legjobb operatőrnek | アカデミー撮影賞