| Year | Winner | Cinematographer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Raging Bull | Michael Chapman |
| 1981 | Pennies from Heaven | Gordon Willis |
| 1982 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Allen Daviau |
| 1983 | Never Cry Wolf | Hiro Narita |
| 1984 | The Killing Fields | Chris Menges |
| 1985 | Ran | Takao Saitō and Masaharu Ueda |
| 1986 | Blue Velvet | Frederick Elmes |
| 1987 | The Last Emperor | Vittorio Storaro |
| 1988 | The Unbearable Lightness of Being | Sven Nykvist |
| 1989 | The Fabulous Baker Boys | Michael Ballhaus |
| Year | Winner | Cinematographer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | No information | |
| 1991 | The Silence of the Lambs | Tak Fujimoto |
| 1992 | Unforgiven | Jack N. Green |
| 1993 | Schindler's List | Janusz Kamiński |
| 1994 | Ed Wood | Stefan Czapsky |
| 1995 | Safe | Alex Nepomniaschy |
| 1996 | The English Patient | John Seale |
| 1997 | Kundun | Roger Deakins |
| 1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Janusz Kamiński |
| 1999 | Sleepy Hollow | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| Year | Winner | Cinematographer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long) | Peter Pau |
| 2001 | The Man Who Wasn't There | Roger Deakins |
| 2002 | Far from Heaven | Edward Lachman |
| 2003 | Winged Migration (Le peuple migrateur) | Olli Barbé and 14 others |
| 2004 | House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu) | Zhao Xiaoding[1] |
| 2005 | Good Night, and Good Luck | Robert Elswit |
| 2006 | Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del fauno) | Guillermo Navarro |
| 2007 | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon) | Janusz Kamiński |
| 2008 | Paranoid Park | Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li |
| 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Barry Ackroyd |
| Year | Winner | Cinematographer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | True Grit | Roger Deakins |
| 2011 | The Tree of Life | Emmanuel Lubezki[2] |
| 2012 | The Master | Mihai Mălaimare Jr. |
| 2013 | Gravity | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| 2014 | Birdman | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| 2015 | Carol | Edward Lachman |
| 2016 | The Handmaiden | Chung Chung-hoon |
| 2017 | Dunkirk | Hoyte van Hoytema |
| 2018 | Roma | Alfonso Cuaron |
| 2019 | Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu) | Claire Mathon[3] |
| Year | Winner | Cinematographer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Nomadland | Joshua James Richards[4] |
| 2021 | The Power of the Dog | Ari Wegner[5] |