Born in Stuttgart on September 20, 1962, Judith Kaufmann spent most of her childhood in Berlin. She took an interest in photography at an early age and was accepted at the Staatliche Fachschule für Foto, Optik und Film (state college for photography, optics and film) in Berlin – better known as the SFOF – after graduating from secondary school. After working as camera assistant to cinematographer Konrad Kotowski on Thomas Brasch's film "Domino" in 1982, her focus shifted to camera work in film.

Kaufmann gained experience on numerous film and television productions, working as a camera assistant for about ten years – with Gernot Roll, Raoul Coutard, and Heinz Pehlke, among others – before first being hired as director of photography in 1991. She was responsible for the second camera on Wim Wenders' "In weiter Ferne, so nah" (Faraway, So Close!) (cinematographer: Jürgen Jürges) in 1992.

Judith Kaufmann has already received a number of awards for her work. In 2003 she was awarded the Bavarian Film Prize for "Elefantenherz" ("Elephant Heart") and the German Camera Prize for "Scherbentanz" ("Shattered Glass"). Her work in "Fremde Haut" ("Unveiled") was recognized with the Film Prize of the State of Hesse in 2005, and her overall achievements were honored with the Marburg Camera Prize in 2006.

The same year, Chris Kraus' acclaimed and multiple award-winning drama "Vier Minuten" ("Four Minutes") was released in Germany. For her work on the film, Kaufmann received her first nomination for the German Film Award. On the road movie "Vivere" (2007) and the much-discussed TV thriller "Wem Ehre gebührt" (2007) she again collaborated with "Fremde Haut"-director Angelina Maccarone. Kaufmann's penchant for films with political relevance was also evident in her next projects: "Feuerherz" ("Heart of Fire", 2008) deals with the fate of African child soldiers, "Ihr könnt Euch niemals sicher sein" (2008) is the story of a teenager who is suspected of having homicidal tendencies, and "Die Fremde" ("When We Leave", 2010) shows how a young Turkish woman living in Berlin is crushed by her conservative family's restrictive rules and oppressive traditions. Her innovative photography in "Die Fremde" garnered Kaufmann the Award of German Film Critics and the German Camera Award.

She then worked on Jo Baier's "Das Ende ist mein Anfang" ("The End is My Beginning", 2010), the movie adaptation of the memoirs of a Southeast-Asia correspondent working for German news magazine "Der Spiegel". Following Andres Veiel's "Wer wenn nicht wir" ("If Not Us, Who?", 2011), a film about Bernward Vesper and his fateful relationship to Gudrun Ensslin, Kaufmann once more was DoP in a Maccarone film: "Charlotte Rampling: The Look" (2012) is a portrait of the legendary British actress. Also in 2012, she co-directed the multi-award-winning drama "Zwei Leben" ("Two Lives", 2012) together with Georg Maas.  

For her seminal work as a cinematographer, Judith Kaufmann revceived the Honorary Award of the Board of Trustees at the German Cinematography Awards 2012; the following year, she received a star on the "Boulevard der Stars" in Berlin.  

In 2013, Judith Kaufmann was behind the camera for Kilian Riedhof's successful comedy "Sein letztes Rennen" ("Back on Track") with Dieter Hallervorden in the lead role, and for the Swiss-German co-production "Traumland" ("Dreamland") directed by Petra Biondina Volpe. For her work on "Traumland", Kaufmann was awarded the Günter Rohrbach Film Prize 2014.

Another collaboration with Feo Aladag followed in 2013/2014: as co-writer and cinematographer, she worked on the drama "Zwischen Welten" ("Between Worlds") about the German Armed Forces' mission in Afghanistan, which was shot on location under difficult conditions. In 2015, Oliver Hirschbiegel's "Elser" about the Hitler assassin Georg Elser and Marc Brummund's much-discussed youth drama "Freistatt" ("Sanctuary") were released. Judith Kaufmann was nominated for the German Film Award 2015 for the cinematography of "Elser". In the same year, the television miniseries "Der gleiche Himmel" ("The Same Sky") was filmed in Prague - again directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and with Kaufmann behind the camera.

At the Max Ophüls Film Festival in 2016 and 2018, two feature film debuts premiered for which the Kaufmann was responsible for the cinematography, namely Viviane Andereggen's coming-of-age comedy "Simon sagt auf Wiedersehen zu seiner Vorhaut" ("Time to Say Goodbye") and Eibe Maleen Krebs' drama "Draußen in meinem Kopf". Kaufmann also reunited with Petra Volpe, whose political drama "Die göttliche Ordnung" ("The Divine Order") was submitted by Switzerland for the 2017 Academy Awards. In spring 2019, Kaufmann received two nominations for the German Film Award in the Best Cinematography category, both for the Hape Kerkeling biopic "Der Junge muss an die frische Luft" ("All About Me", directed by Caroline Link) and for "Nur eine Frau" ("A Regular Woman"), Sherry Hormann's contribution to the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.

Also in 2019, "Das Vorspiel" ("The Audition", DE/FR) starring Nina Hoss was released - the second collaboration with director Ina Weisse after the documentary "Die neue Nationalgalerie" (2018). In two consecutive years (2019 and 2020), Judith Kaufmann was awarded the Michael Ballhaus Fellowship.

In 2022, Marie Kreutzer's "Corsage" (AT/LU/DE/FR), starring Vicky Krieps as Empress Elisabeth, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. The historical drama, shot on 35mm film by Judith Kaufmann, was Austria's 2023 Oscar submission.

Between 2019 and 2023, Kaufmann made three films with director Ilker Çatak: In 2021, "Räuberhände" ("Stambul Garden") was released, based on the novel of the same name by Finn-Ole Heinrich; in the same year, the episode "Borowski und der gute Mensch" of the "Tatort" crime series aired on television, with Lars Eidinger in the role of the murderer Kai Korthals. The drama "Das Lehrerzimmer" ("The Teachers' Lounge") followed in 2023, which was nominated for an Oscar as Best International Feature, won the CICAE Award in the Panorama section at the Berlinale, and for which Kaufmann was again nominated for Best Cinematography at the German Film Awards.

In January 2025, she received the Bavarian Film Prize for Best Cinematography for the drama ("The Glory of Life"), which tells the story of writer Franz Kafka’s late romance with political activist and actress Dora Diamant (played by Sabin Tambrea and Henriette Confurius). Another acclaimed project was the historical drama "In Liebe, Eure Hilde" ("From Hilde, With Love"), based on the true story of Hilde Coppi, a medical assistant who joined the resistance group "Red Orchestra" during World War II and was executed by the Nazis. While Kaufmann did not receive a personal award for this film, it was widely recognized, including a Bronze Lola for Best Feature Film at the 2025 German Film Awards. 

Kaufmann also lensed "Poison – Eine Liebesgeschichte" ("Poison – A Love Story"), the directorial debut of actress Désirée Nosbusch. This international co-production follows a divorced couple (Tim Roth and Trine Dyrholm) who meet again at their son’s grave ten years after his death, reigniting long-buried conflicts. The film premiered in German cinemas in January 2025.

A month later, two more films featuring Kaufmann’s cinematography had their world premieres at the Berlinale: Petra Biondina Volpe’s caregiver drama  "Heldin" ("Late Shift"), and Ina Weisse’s "Zikaden" ("Cicadas") in which a woman (Nina Hoss) begins to question her life after forming a bond with a new friend (Saskia Rosendahl) from a very different social background.

Judith Kaufmann, a member of both the German and European Film Academies, as well as of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, resides in Berlin.