ARRI debuts cforce MAX second generation lens motor

ARRI introduces the cforce MAX lens motor, offering faster performance, compact design, and new features for what the company says is an enhanced focus pulling experience.

ARRI's first release under the new Thomas Reidel ownership is the cforce MAX, a new lens motor for its Hi-5 Electronic Control System that replaces the cforce plus. It is twice as fast as the cforce plus while being 15% smaller and lighter, and matches the cforce mini's size-to-strength ratio by being twice as fast and strong as that motor while only 15% larger.

A new experience 

The motor is built around an advanced brushless design that ARRI says delivers low enough latency that it represents a fundamentally different experience for focus pullers. Top speed is 400 teeth per second, and ARRI positions the motor as suited to large cine primes, zoom lenses, vintage glass, and specialty optics.

That speed also makes it well suited to focus tracking systems which need to respond in real-time rather than anticipate movement.

Control is handled through a combination of a physical soft-touch button for core functions including motor axis changes, and an integrated touchscreen display for configuration and status monitoring. The display supports customizable layouts and is designed for future feature expansion through software updates, in line with ARRI's broader Electronic Control System approach. The motor carries dual LBUS ports for daisy-chaining and is fully backwards-compatible with existing LBUS infrastructure, mounting brackets, rods, and drive gears.

Alongside the cforce MAX, ARRI is also introducing the Motor Rod Clamp MRC-1, a new bracket providing connection to lens gears with adjustment across multiple positions on both 19 mm and 15 mm rods. The MRC-1 is also compatible with the cforce mini and cforce mini RF.

Pricing and availability 

The cforce MAX is available now. A kit with the MRC-1 clamp and gear is priced at €2980. No US pricing as yet.