After my article on anamorphic lenses (in Italian, but the pictures speak every language), the question I received most often was: «And the cameras? Why Lumix?». It's a story worth telling, because it isn't really about sensors and spec sheets. It's about people — and in a job built on trust, people matter more than megapixels.

Changing systems is a leap of faith

Outside this profession, few people realize what switching camera brands means: years of muscle memory built on menus and buttons, lenses accumulated over time, operational certainties that are worth gold on a wedding day. A wedding grants no second takes — if you miss the ring exchange, you've missed it forever. No professional changes systems for fashion. You change only when something, or someone, convinces you there's more on the other side.

People before products

For me, that someone was Dario Urso of FOWA, who over the years became first a reference point and then a friend. He never «sold» me anything: he put the cameras in my hands, listened to my doubts as someone who lives on weddings, where reliability is non-negotiable. Alongside him, the professionalism of Federica Mazza at CineSud — for those of us working in Southern Italy, far more than a store: real assistance, honest advice, and the certainty that if something breaks on a Friday, I'm still filming on Saturday. When you find people like that behind a brand, half the decision is already made.

What won me over

The cameras made the other half. My Lumix full frame bodies give me three things that are priceless at weddings. Low-light performance: I often work by candlelight, in dark churches and receptions lit by strings of bulbs, and the full frame sensor with fast apertures means I never have to switch on an intrusive light. Stabilization, which lets me move among your guests light-footed, with no rigs or dollies — an invisible guest. And open gate recording, which uses the sensor's full height: a blessing for anamorphic shooters like me, because it captures every millimeter of the image my lenses project.

Giuseppe Cimino showing his Lumix settings to his colleague Giuseppe Galatà, who holds the camera on a gimbal, on location at golden hour
That’s my colleague Giuseppe Galatà holding the camera. The one behind him talking and waving his hands is me: I’m showing him the new Lumix features and — I’ll admit it — also trying to talk him into switching brands. How that ended, I’m not telling you. In the meantime, look at the scene: open field, the last of the sun, the camera on a gimbal. No dollies to build, no lights to set up. You walk, and you film.

Lumix + anamorphic: a perfect marriage

It's the combination of Lumix and my Blazar Remus 1.5x anamorphic lenses that creates the look you see in my films: the wide cinema frame, the golden flares cutting through backlight, backgrounds melting into soft ovals. The cover photo of this article shows me on set with my Lumix and Blazar anamorphic lens — no filters added, just glass, sensor and the right light.

What this means for you

None of this is gear worship. For you it means: a lighter, more discreet operator who won't turn your reception into a film set; the safety of dual card recording protecting every moment; and an image that in twenty years will still taste of cinema, not of «a video». The best technology is the kind you never notice — you only notice the film.

“The best technology is the kind that disappears, leaving only emotion.”

Want this look for your film? Write to me