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CLAi the film and video production company in San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto, Cupertino, Specializing in videography, video editing and color correction for corporate videos and documentary films

Our Arri & RED Camera Systems & More

So much of the quality of a film or video project comes from the choices made in the production equipment used on location...

It can never be cutting edge or timeless enough, it can never be too high a quality, and you can never have too much of it.

Our philosophy is simple, gear up to do smaller budget production shoots and your passion projects 100% in-house, have the right equipment to integrate seamlessly with the additional rental items needed on larger budget projects to ensure the greatest flexibility, and then bring in the specialist equipment and specialist crew required on the most demanding projects. Have the right horses for every course…

Needless to say, but I will anyway, technology changes constantly and so by the time you read this list we may have many other toys to play with… so please don’t assume that we don’t have the equipment that you want to specify on a project.

Camera Systems

Arri Alexa Plus

When I first touched a RED camera nearly a decade ago I was thrilled at the quality and depth of the images it made, even more than I was horrified about how little worked! I bought two of them as some sort of self-punishment. When I first shot on an Arri Alexa I was just as thrilled about the even better, and infinitely more filmic images it made were.

It took a while to get over the RED mindset and back into the Film mindset, but when I did I once again bought two of these fabulous, no-compromise cameras in place of my REDs. But the one thing about Alexas is that they are big and heavy – just like the 35mm film cameras they replaced – especially with the Odyssey 7Q+ recorder on board for recording ArriRAW. Now, in response to demand from our clients I’ve wandered back into the RED camp, and put together a RED Dragon 6k digital cinema system for projects needing high resolution or that very RED look.

I think that I’ve managed to find ways to make them more useful and adaptable, particularly with the use of C7 lens mounts to allow the Alexa camera to take PL, Leica and Sigma/Nikon lenses – letting us use the most effective glass for every shooting situation, with aperture control on the mounts – and the ability to shoot in 3k ArriRaw (4k after using Arri’s software interface) and 2k ProRes at the same time. Of course on the RED we can provide Sigma/Nikon lenses, Leica lenses and PL lenses at the second, and aperture control is built into the camera. I also use a PL Motion Mount, which provides the option of using a global shutter, and the addition of in camera stepless ND. I’ve also just jumped on Jarred’s next craziness and ordered a RED Komodo 6k unit…

Arri Alexa Plus 2.8k/4k Camera

Arri Alexa Plus 16:9 Camera Body
Arri PL Lens Mount with LensData System
C7 PL Lens Mount
C7 Leica R Lens Mount
C7 Nikon Lens Mount With Aperture Ring
Arri EVF-1 Viewfinder
Arri EVF-1 Viewfinder Mount
Arri Dual SxS Module
6# SxS 64Gb Media Sticks
Arri Bridge Plates & Adapters
Arri Center Handle
Arri EVF Cables
Arri Power Cables
Arri Shoulder Pad
Arri 19mm Bridge Mount with Quick Release Plate
Arri 15mm Mount with Quick Release Plate
3k ArriRaw via BNC T Connectors
HD and 2k ProRes 4:4:4:4 and HQ Recording On Board
2.8k ArriRAW Recording to Odyssey 7Q+ with Arri 4k Invisible UpRez
V Battery Mount & Anton Bauer Battery Plate
Custom Arri Shipping Case
Wireless Lens and Camera Control
eRGOCine Hand/Control Grips
Zacuto Follow Focus and Swivel Grip
Tilta Wireless Focus and Zoom Contollers
On-Camera Shotgun Mic
On-Camera Sound Devices PreD Mixer
9# Switronix V-Mount Batteries & Charger
7″ 2.8k ArriRAW Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q+ Recorder/Monitor #1
Convergent-Design RAW Codec Pack (Records F5, FS7 & A7Sii Sony RAW, 3k Arri RAW, Canon RAW)
Convergent Design 2# 1Tb & 3# 128Gb SSD Fast Media
Panasonic BLTH17 LCD Broadcast HD-SDI Monitor With Waveform

RED Digital Cinema Camera

After not owning any RED cameras for a couple of years, but still renting them every few months, I decided to come back into the RED camp and bought a Dragon 6k brain along with all of the extra bits and pieces needed to actually shoot with it. It was a difficult business decision, as the RED organization are still following the same path of throwing their owner group under the bus every few years. But there is just something about the cameras and the image that is so right – it doesn’t have the sophistication of an Arri, but it is so flexible… and having come into the world of Digital Cinema with RED, then developed a very high level of expertise in every facet of the systems, I realize that RED is just in my blood!

RED Dragon 6k Camera

RED Dragon 6k Digital Cinema Body
Control/Power Side Grip Module
REDLink WiFi Module
5″ Touch Screen
RED EVF
RED EVF Mount
RED/Zacuto Top Handles
1.8″ RED Media/SSD Recorder
1# 256Gb REDmedia Card
4# 128Gb REDmedia Cards
1# 64Gb REDmedia Card
RED Leica R Mount
RED Smart Nikon Mount
RED PL Motion Mount and Neutral Density Control
RED Card Reader
V Mount Battery Module
7# Switronix V Mount Batteries
4# RED V Mount Batteries
Wooden Camera A Box Audio XLR Inputs
Multiple Shoulder Mount Systems
RED Top Plate
RED Bottom Plate
RED 15mm Rail QuickMount Plate
7″ and 10″ LCD Broadcast HD-SDI/HDMI OnCamera Monitors With Waveform and HDMI/SDI Output

RED Komodo 6k Digital Cinema Camera

Coming soon to a sucker near you! With it’s tiny profile and less than 2 lbs, plus pretty color body it’s hard to know exactly what the Komodo will bring to the table, but I’m down to get one in the next few weeks – with the intention of making it the camera for sliders, hand gimbal rigs and so on…

Sony DSLR Cameras

Sometimes you need a camera system that is small, light and which can be relatively unseen as a professional recording device. For me the best of these beasties has been the Sony line for some time now – offering an awful lot of flexibility while remaining very useable, and they cut pretty well with the big boy cameras after color grading if exposure and color are well controlled. The down side is that, as with all DSLRs, the recording codecs are really fragile and break up very easily if you need to make changes to the image in post – especially any type of zooming or exposure balance. But horses for courses – if I want to shoot in a busy market without creating a reaction, then the Sony does the job. The A7Sii is the camera for video, but has lousy image resolution for stills, so I added the very small original A7R for photography work (I also use the RED Dragon for this, as it is a terrific stills camera).