The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his or her work in one particular motion picture.
- 1928 - Sunrise
- 1929 - none given
- 1930 - none given
- 1931 - Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
- 1932 - Shanghai Express
- 1933 - A Farewell to Arms
- 1934 - Cleopatra
- 1935 - ''A Midsummer Night's Dream
- 1936 - Anthony Adverse
- 1937 - The Good Earth
- 1938 - none given
- 1939 - Wuthering Heights (B&W); Gone with the Wind (Color)
- 1940 - Rebecca (B&W); none given (Color)
- 1941 - How Green Was My Valley (B&W); Blood and Sand (Color)
- 1942 - Mrs. Miniver (B&W); The Black Swan (Color)
- 1943 - The Song of Bernadette (B&W); The Phantom of the Opera (Color)
- 1944 - Laura (B&W); Wilson (Color)
- 1945 - Picture of Dorian Gray (B&W); Leave Her to Heaven
- 1946 - Anna and the King of Siam (B&W); The Yearling (Color)
- 1947 - Great Expectations (B&W); Black Narcissus (Color)
- 1948 - The Naked City (B&W); Joan of Arc (Color)
- 1949 - Battleground (B&W); She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (Color)
- 1950 - The Third Man (B&W); King Solomon's Mines (Color)
- 1951 - A Place in the Sun (B&W); An American in Paris (Color)
- 1952 - The Bad and the Beautiful (B&W); The Quiet Man (Color)
- 1953 - From Here to Eternity (B&W); Shane (Color)
- 1954 - On the Waterfront (B&W); Three Coins in the Fountain (Color)
- 1955 - The Rose Tattoo (B&W); To Catch a Thief (Color)
- 1956 - Somebody Up There Likes Me (B&W); Around the World in 80 Days (Color)
- 1957 - none given (B&W); The Bridge on the River Kwai (Color)
- 1958 - The Defiant Ones (B&W); Gigi (Color)
- 1959 - The Diary of Anne Frank (B&W); Ben-Hur (Color)
- 1960 - none given (B&W); Spartacus (Color)
- 1961 - The Hustler (B&W); West Side Story (Color)
- 1962 - The Longest Day (B&W); Lawrence of Arabia (Color)
- 1963 - Hud (B&W); Cleopatra (Color)
- 1964 - Zorba the Greek (B&W); My Fair Lady (Color)
- 1965 - Ship of Fools (B&W); Doctor Zhivago (Color)
- 1966 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (B&W); A Man for All Seasons (Color)
- 1967 - Bonnie & Clyde
- 1968 - Romeo and Juliet
- 1969 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Conrad Hall
- 1970 - Ryan's Daughter
- 1971 - Fiddler on the Roof
- 1972 - Cabaret
- 1973 - Cries and Whispers
- 1974 - The Towering Inferno
- 1975 - Barry Lyndon
- 1976 - Bound for Glory
- 1977 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- 1978 - Days of Heaven
- 1979 - Apocalypse Now
- 1980 - Tess
- 1981 - Reds
- 1982 - Gandhi
- 1983 - Fanny and Alexander
- 1984 - The Killing Fields
- 1985 - Out of Africa
- 1986 - The Mission
- 1987 - The Last Emperor
- 1988 - Mississippi Burning
- 1989 - Glory
- 1990 - Dances with Wolves
- 1991 - JFK
- 1992 - A River Runs Through It
- 1993 - Schindler's List
- 1994 - Legends of the Fall
- 1995 - Braveheart
- 1996 - The English Patient
- 1997 - Titanic
- 1998 - Saving Private Ryan
- 1999 - American Beauty - Conrad Hall
- 2000 - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- 2001 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- 2002 - Road to Perdition - Conrad Hall
- Chicago - Dion Beebe
- Far from Heaven - Edward Lachman
- Gangs of New York - Michael Ballhaus
- The Pianist - Pawel Edelman