Las Vegas, April 9, 2025—During NAB Show 2025, cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, ASC, visited the ELYSAS booth to explore MUSE PRIME and discuss optical design, image character, and the role cinema lenses play in visual storytelling.
Keeping Technology in Service of the Story
With more than three decades of cinematography experience, Hurlbut is a member of the ASC, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and ICG Local 600. His work spans feature films, television, commercials, and music videos, with credits including Terminator Salvation, Need for Speed, Act of Valor, and The Greatest Game Ever Played.
Across formats and production scales, he has remained focused on the way cinematography serves the narrative rather than technical specifications alone. He also shares practical production knowledge with emerging cinematographers.
Looking Beyond Resolution
MUSE PRIME does not define a modern cinema lens by resolution alone. ELYSAS evaluates the relationship between the plane of focus, foreground and background defocus, the image center, and the off-axis field. By balancing clarity, contrast, residual aberrations, and defocus behavior, the system combines modern optical performance with a natural, organic rendering.
This approach forms the basis of Melted Bokeh: defocus is not treated as an isolated blur effect, but as part of the relationship between the subject, the surrounding space, and the frame as a whole. The value of a lens is found not only on a test chart, but in the way it shapes space, separates a subject, renders people, and supports narrative choices.