[1] Born in Savona, Masini grew up in Tuscany and in 1961 he graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome.

[2] He started his film career as assistant operator of Vittorio Storaro in Daniele D'Anza's Pugni, pupe e marinai.

[3] He is best known for his association with Carmelo Bene, with whom he collaborated as a cinematographer in all his films, including the Venice Film Festival Special Jury Prize winner Our Lady of the Turks; other notable collaborations include Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (notably being the cinematographer of Palme d'Or winner Padre Padrone), Bruno Bozzetto, Giuseppe Ferrara and Vittorio De Sisti.

[2][3][4] In the 1980s Masini retired from the industry to work as a teacher in some Steiner schools, and later moved to Stuttgart.

[2] He reprised his cinema activities in the early 1990s, working mainly in independent and arthouse international productions.