American cameraman who was camera operator on the original Star Trek and was promoted to director of photography during the third season after Jerry Finnerman left.
Al Francis worked on the original Star Trek from its early days as camera operator under the director of photography Jerry Finnerman, and so had a hand in the look of the series' first two years, with its coloured gels and strongly modelled lighting.
When Finnerman left during the third season to move into features, Francis was promoted to succeed him and photographed the remaining episodes of the series through to Turnabout Intruder. The reduced budgets and shorter schedules of that year limited what could be attempted, but he kept the visual style broadly consistent with what had gone before.
His episodes as director of photography include The Tholian Web, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield and All Our Yesterdays.