David Watkin

David Watkin, the cinematographer who died on Tuesday aged 82, shot many celebrated British films, most notably Chariots Of Fire (1981), and, for Hollywood, Out Of Africa, for which he won an Academy award in 1985.

In Chariots Of Fire - for which he was nominated for an earlier Oscar - Watkin helped to create one of the iconic images of 1980s cinema: the opening sequence in which a huddle of young male athletes pounds along the water's edge on a sandy beach as the film's theme music by Vangelis throbs beneath the shot.

As well as working with Hugh Hudson, who made his directorial debut on Chariots Of Fire, Watkin also collaborated with such seasoned directors as Franco Zeffirelli, Sidney Lumet, Richard Lester, Peter Brook, Mike Nichols and Ken Russell.

Watkin's other credits included The Charge of the Light Brigade, which he photographed in 1968 for Tony Richardson, and Jesus Of Nazareth (1977), made for television with his fellow cinematographer Armando Nannuzzi. This was directed by Zeffirelli, for whom Watkin also shot the 1999 film Tea With Mussolini. Before breaking into feature films as a fully-fledged cinematographer, Watkin also photographed (uncredited) the title sequence of the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger.

A noted innovator, Watkin was among the first directors of photography to experiment with bounced light as a soft lighting source. But his ingenuity was best exemplified when he developed a lighting unit of 196 lamps (14x14) which was mounted on a cherry-picker crane and hoisted up to 150ft in the air, and which created the type of shadow and smoothness that occurs naturally. Because it shed a very bright light over a large area, it became the standard rig for night filming. Known as the Wendy light, it was named after Watkin, who was gay and was nicknamed Wendy by film electricians.

Whether it involved lighting, composition or the use of film stock, Watkin's approach was original or unconventional.

In Out Of Africa, for example, he turned conventional wisdom on its head and used fast film for night and interior shots (for which slow film would normally be used) and slow film for exteriors. This typically maverick move gave Sydney Pollack's film a lush, soft quality that matched its romantic mood. The film won a total of seven Oscars.

Critics admired the painterly quality in Watkin's work, some comparing him with the Dutch artist Vermeer, who often illuminated his subjects with light refracted through windows. Films such as Yentl (1983), The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), White Nights (1985) and The Four Musketeers (1974) contain striking examples of this technique.

Francis David Watkin was born on March 23 1925 at Margate, Kent, the fourth and youngest son of a prosperous solicitor.

Classical music was an early enthusiasm, and the young David was disappointed when his father turned down his request for a piano and music lessons. But he accepted paternal encouragement to try film-making "because I knew film-makers didn't have to wear a suit".

He always maintained, however, that he would rather have been a professional musician than alighting cameraman.

After serving briefly in the Army during the Second World War, in 1948 Watkin joined the Southern Railway film unit as a messenger boy and then camera assistant. Two years later the unit was merged with British Transport Films, with Watkin making his debut as cameraman on Holiday (1955) before being promoted to become BTF's director of photography in the late 1950s. In 1960, he went freelance and started shooting commercials, work that brought him into contact with the young American-born director Richard Lester.

After his success with the Beatles in their first film, A Hard Day's Night (1964), Lester hired Watkin to work on his sex comedy The Knack… And How to Get It (1965), which Watkin shot in a crisp, high-contrast style; the film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Watkin and Lester went on to collaborate on the second Beatles film, Help! (1965), How I Won The War (1967), The Bed-Sitting Room (1969), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Robin and Marian (1976) and Cuba (1979).

Although few matched his skills, Watkin did not earn the recognition enjoyed by many of his contemporaries. It was only his Academy Award for Out Of Africa in 1985 that drew him out of the shadows to join the pantheon of leading cinematographers.

Despite his achievements, Watkin himself remained conspicuously casual about his work. Asked when he had first developed a passion for photography, he replied that he had not as yet done so, his overriding passions being classical music and books. He became known for his eccentric habit of sleeping on the set of his films between lighting set-ups because "it's the only thing you can do on set which doesn't make you more tired".

He produced two volumes of autobiography, Why Is There Only One Word for Thesaurus? (1998) and Was Clara Schumann A Fag Hag?, published earlier this year.

Watkin was always charming and self-deprecating. "Most of my best ideas are born of laziness," he remarked. "I liked using soft light because it looks nice and it's easy. I've also found that a good approach is to have only a few stipulations - I usually like to shoot against the light, for instance - but once you make them, stick to them doggedly."

In 2004, asked for a motto for T-shirts at a Polish film festival, where he received a lifetime achievement award, he rejected conventional tags in favour of: "One tries not to f*** it up".

David Watkin is survived by his long-term partner, Nick Hand.