cin·e·ma·tog·ra·phy (sn-m-tgr-f)
n.
The art o r technique of movie photography,
i n c l u d i n g both the shooting and development of the film.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Die Kunst o d e r Technik der Filmfotograhie
e i n s c h l i e ß l i c h sowohl der Aufnahme als auch der Entwicklung des Films.

Chambers:
cinematography
noun
the art of making motion pictures.

Encarta:
cin·e·ma·tog·ra·phy
noun
photographing of motion pictures: the art or technique of photographing and lighting motion pictures

Macmillan:
cinematography
noun [uncountable] cinema
the job or skill of making movies

Webster's:
cin·ema·tog·ra·phy
noun
the art, science, and work of photography in making films

Cambridge Dictionary of American English:
cinematography
noun [U]
the art and methods of photography used in making a movie
The cinematography is what makes this film as wonderful as it really is.

Encyclopædia Britannica:
cinematography
Art and technology of motion-picture photography. It involves the composition of a scene, lighting of the set and actors, choice of cameras, camera angle, and integration of special effects to achieve the photographic images desired by the director. Cinematography focuses on relations between the individual shots and groups of shots that make up a scene to produce a film's effect.

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia:
cinematography
the art or science of film (motion-picture) photography

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms:
cinematography
(graphic arts)
Motion picture photography.

Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia:
motion picture photography or cinematography,
photographic arts and techniques involved in making motion pictures.
Cinematography is the act of lighting and photographing the images.
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/mo...

ArtLex Art Dictionary:
Cinematography is the art of motion-picture photography.
http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/c/cinema.html

Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS):
cinematography
Derived from the name of the Cinematographe apparatus invented in 1895 by Auguste and Louis Lumière, the term is applied both to the art and scientific methods of motion picture photography and to the entire process of making motion pictures, including photography, processing, editing, printing, and projection. The cinematographer (also known as the "director of photography") is typically in charge of the camera crew and provides advice to the film director as needed concerning the camera angles and shots that are possible in each scene and their technical requirements. Also refers to the act of making a motion picture. In the United States, an Academy Award is given each year for best cinematography.

Some more definitions.

1) Duden: Kinematographie, ...fie 1. /früher) Verfahren.... 2. Gebiet, das die Gesamtheit der Grundlagen u. Verfahren bei Aufnahme u. Wiedergabe von Filmen umfasst; Filmtechnik, -wissenschaft, -kunst.

Brockhaus/Wahrig: ... 1. (in der Frühzeit des Films) Verfahren zur Aufnahme und Wiedergabe von bewegten Bildern 2. Filmwissenschaft u. -technik, Filmkunst


2) Merriam Webster Collegiate: cinematic Adj. 1: filmed and presented as a motion picture (...) 2: of, relating to or suitable for motion pictures or the filming of motion pictures (~ principles and techniques)

Webster's Enc. Unabridgted (Portland House = Random House)
cinematics n. (construed as sing. or pl.) the process or art of making motion pictures; cinematography

1) The important part from the Duden entry was missing.

2) Please don't confuse kinematics and cinematics.

A cinematographer (as a director of photography) is a special technical term, but that doesn't alter the meaning of cinematography in general. Likewise, Kameraführung is only part of what cinematography (or Kinematographie) means, it's not a translation.

I don't think the entry should be changed.

The Webster's edition from 1913 indeed lists 'cinematics' as a synonym to cinematography--but no modern dictionary does (they only list it as a synonym to 'kinematics' which has nothing to do with film). Therefore, I concede that the entry can stay but it desperately needs an [obs.] tag.

The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is commonly translated to Oscar für die beste Kamera. This corroborates my main concern with the current entry: 'Cinematography' is a common word in English whereas 'Kinematographie' in German is at best a technical term that hardly anyone outside the film business can define.

Moreover, I maintain my statement from the OP: It seems to me that the German "Kinematographie" is about the technology whereas the English "cinematography" refers to the artistic choices in filming--the work of a cinematographer.

The point about "Kameraführung" is well taken. "Kameraarbeit" would be a broader term, often shortened to "die Kamera" (as in "Oscar für die beste Kamera").

>>The Webster's edition from 1913 indeed lists 'cinematics' as a synonym to cinematography--but no modern dictionary does (they only list it as a synonym to 'kinematics' which has nothing to do with film). Therefore, I concede that the entry can stay but it desperately needs an [obs.] tag.<<<br/>
???

Random House, as I said above, does list cinematics and does not list it as a synonym (you mean variant) of kinematics. M-W Collegiate does not list the noun, but M-W Unabridged does:
"2. The art or technique of cinematic presentation"
(#1 is "var. of kinematics")

No "obs." or "dated".

Both the English and the German word can refer to the historical technology of the cinématographe, that depends on context.

"Kamera" for cinematography is a metaphor and is misleading as a translation. Maybe something like

"cinematography -- rarely die Kamera(arbeit)"

would solve that problem but I doubt that such an entry is necessary.

You may be right in saying that Engl. cinematography may be more widely used and have a somewhat broader (or narrower, for that matter) meaning than the German term. Still, I can't see how this could be conveyed without explanations.

Maybe sb else could comment.

"cinematics" ist nach wie vor ohne Kennzeichnung verzeichnet, obwohl es in keinem der gängigen Wörterbücher neueren Datums in der Bedeutung "Filmkunst" enthalten ist, auch nicht im M-W (free online edition):

http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/cinematics