- 2024: Oppenheimer - Hoyte van Hoytema
- 2023: All Quiet on the Western Front - James Friend
- 2022: Dune- Greig Fraser
- 2021: Mank - Erik Messerschmidt
- 2020: 1917 - Roger Deakins
- 2019: Roma - Alfonso Cuarón
- 2018: Blade Runner 2049 - Roger Deakins
- 2017: La La Land - Linus Sandgren
- 2016: The Revenant - Emmanuel Lubezki
- 2015: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Emmanuel Lubezki
- 2014: Gravity - Emmanuel Lubezki
- 2013: Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda
- 2012: Hugo - Robert Richardson
- 2011: Inception - Wally Pfister
- 2010: Avatar - Mauro Fiore
- 2009: Slumdog Millionaire - Anthony Dod Mantle
- 2008: There Will Be Blood - Robert Elswit
- 2007: Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo Navarro
- 2006: Memoirs of a Geisha - Dion Beebe
- 2005: The Aviator - Robert Richardson
- 2004: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Russell Boyd
- 2003: Road to Perdition - Conrad L. Hall
- 2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Andrew Lesnie
- 2001: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Peter Pau
- 2000: American Beauty - Conrad L. Hall
- 1999: Saving Private Ryan - Janusz Kamiński
- 1998: Titanic - Russell Carpenter
- 1997: The English Patient - John Seale
- 1996: Braveheart - John Toll
- 1995: Legends of the Fall - John Toll
- 1994: Schindler's List - Janusz Kamiński
- 1993: A River Runs Through It - Philippe Rousselot
- 1992: JFK - Robert Richardson
- 1991: Dances with Wolves - Dean Semler
- 1990: Glory - Freddie Francis
- 1989: Mississippi Burning - Peter Biziou
- 1988: The Last Emperor - Vittorio Storaro
- 1987: The Mission - Chris Menges
- 1986: Out of Africa - David Watkin
- 1985: The Killing Fields - Chris Menges
- 1984: Fanny and Alexander - Sven Nykvist
- 1983: Gandhi - Billy Williams, Ronnie Taylor
- 1982: Reds - Vittorio Storaro
- 1981: Tess - Geoffrey Unsworth, Ghislain Cloquet
- 1980: Apocalypse Now - Vittorio Storaro
- 1979: Days of Heaven - Néstor Almendros
- 1978: Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Vilmos Zsigmond
- 1977: Bound for Glory - Haskell Wexler
- 1976: Barry Lyndon - John Alcott
- 1975: The Towering Inferno - Fred J. Koenekamp, Joseph Biroc
- 1974: Cries and Whispers - Sven Nykvist
- 1973: Cabaret - Geoffrey Unsworth
- 1972: Fiddler on the Roof - Oswald Morris
- 1971: Ryan's Daughter - Freddie Young
- 1970: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Conrad L. Hall
- 1969: Romeo and Juliet - Pasqualino De Santis
- 1968: Bonnie and Clyde - Burnett Guffey
- 1967: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Haskell Wexler, A Man for All Seasons - Ted Moore
- 1966: Ship of Fools - Ernest Laszlo, Doctor Zhivago - Freddie Young
- 1965: Zorba the Greek - Walter Lassally, My Fair Lady - Harry Stradling
- 1964: Hud - James Wong Howe, Cleopatra - Leon Shamroy
- 1963: The Longest Day - Jean Bourgoin and Walter Wottitz, Lawrence of Arabia - Freddie Young
- 1962: The Hustler - Eugen Schüfftan, West Side Story - Daniel L. Fapp
- 1961: Sons and Lovers - Freddie Francis, Spartacus - Russell Metty
- 1960: The Diary of Anne Frank - William C. Mellor, Ben-Hur - Robert Surtees
- 1959: The Defiant Ones - Sam Leavitt, South Pacific - Leon Shamroy
- 1958: The Bridge on the River Kwai - Jack Hildyard, Gigi - Joseph Ruttenberg
- 1957: Somebody Up There Likes Me - Joseph Ruttenberg, Around the World in 80 Days - Lionel Lindon
- 1956: The Rose Tattoo - James Wong Howe, To Catch a Thief - Robert Burks
- 1955: On the Waterfront - Boris Kaufman, Three Coins in the Fountain - Milton Krasner
- 1954: From Here to Eternity - Burnett Guffey, Shane - Loyal Griggs
- 1953: The Bad and the Beautiful - Robert Surtees, The Quiet Man - Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout
- 1952: A Place in the Sun - William C. Mellor, An American in Paris - Alfred Gilks and John Alton
- 1951: The Third Man - Robert Krasker, King Solomon's Mines - Robert Surtees
- 1950: Battleground - Paul C. Vogel, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon - Winton C. Hoch
- 1949: The Naked City - William Daniels, Joan of Arc - Joseph Valentine, William V. Skall and Winton C. Hoch
- 1948: Great Expectations - Guy Green, Black Narcissus - Jack Cardiff
- 1947: Anna and the King of Siam - Arthur C. Miller, The Yearling - Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith and Arthur Arling
- 1946: The Picture of Dorian Gray - Harry Stradling, Leave Her to Heaven - Leon Shamroy
- 1945: Laura - Joseph LaShelle, Wilson - Leon Shamroy
- 1944: The Song of Bernadette - Arthur C. Miller, Phantom of the Opera - Hal Mohr and W. Howard Greene
- 1943: Mrs. Miniver - Joseph Ruttenberg, The Black Swan - Leon Shamroy
- 1942: How Green Was My Valley - Arthur C. Miller, Blood and Sand - Ernest Palmer and Ray Rennahan
- 1941: Rebecca - George Barnes, The Thief of Bagdad - Georges Périnal
- 1940: Wuthering Heights - Gregg Toland, Gone with the Wind - Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan
- 1939: The Great Waltz - Joseph Ruttenberg, Sweethearts - Oliver T. Marsh and Allen Davey
- 1938: The Good Earth - Karl Freund, A Star Is Born - W. Howard Greene
- 1937: Anthony Adverse - Tony Gaudio, The Garden of Allah - W. Howard Greene and Harold Rosson
- 1936: A Midsummer Night's Dream - Hal Mohr
- 1935: Cleopatra - Victor Milner
- 1934: A Farewell to Arms - Charles Lang
- 1933: Shanghai Express - Lee Garmes
- 1932: Tabu: A Story of the South Seas - Floyd Crosby
- 1931: With Byrd at the South Pole - Joseph T. Rucker, Willard Van der Veer
- 1930: White Shadows in the South Seas - Clyde De Vinna
- 1929: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans - Charles Rosher, Karl Struss
