ARRI cforce MAX Replaces the cforce plus – Twice as Fast, 15% Smaller, and With an Onboard Touchscreen

Accessory News

by Nino LeitnerApril 29^th, 2026

Subscribe to News - Accessories

ARRI has unveiled the cforce MAX, a brushless lens motor that directly replaces the long-serving cforce plus while delivering twice the speed, the same 1.0 Nm of peak torque, a 15% smaller and lighter body, and a first-in-class onboard touchscreen interface. Designed as a new high-performance node within the Hi-5 lens control ecosystem, the motor is available now.

The cforce family has been a fixture on professional sets since the cforce mini first appeared in 2014, and it has steadily grown to include the higher-torque cforce plus and the wireless cforce mini RF. The plus has long been the go-to choice for focus pullers wrestling with stiff zooms, heavy anamorphics, or sluggish vintage glass, but its size and comparatively modest 210 teeth-per-second speed have started to show their age. The cforce MAX is ARRI’s answer, and on paper it makes the plus largely redundant: same peak torque, nearly double the speed, and a smaller footprint that lends itself far better to gimbal and handheld work.

How the cforce MAX compares to its siblings

According to ARRI’s own published figures, the cforce MAX hits 1.0 Nm of peak torque and 400 teeth per second of speed when fitted with its default 50-tooth gear. By comparison, the cforce mini tops out at 0.5 Nm and 170 t/s, the outgoing cforce plus at 1.0 Nm and 210 t/s, and the wireless cforce mini RF at 0.3 Nm and 240 t/s. So while the MAX matches the plus on raw torque, it nearly doubles its speed, and ARRI says the new motor is 15% smaller and lighter than the plus while only 15% larger than the mini.

That repositioning matters in practice. Focus pulling on heavy anamorphic zooms, big PL primes, or stiff vintage glass has historically pushed crews toward the cforce plus, which is bulkier and slower to respond. The MAX’s brushless design and what ARRI calls market-leading low latency are pitched as ideal not just for traditional focus pulling but also for focus tracking systems, which cannot anticipate movement and have to react in real time. ARRI is clear that the cforce MAX complements rather than replaces the ultra-compact cforce mini and the wireless cforce mini RF, both of which remain in the lineup for situations where size and wireless flexibility matter more than absolute torque.

A touchscreen and a soft-touch button on the motor itself

The most visible change versus the rest of the cforce line is the integrated color touchscreen on the side of the motor, complemented by a single physical soft-touch button. The button handles core functions such as changing the motor axis, a control option already familiar to users of the cforce mini and plus. The screen, however, is genuinely new territory for an ARRI lens motor: it handles setup, configuration, and status monitoring directly on the unit, so a focus puller does not necessarily have to dive into a hand unit menu just to verify torque settings, axis assignment, or calibration status.

ARRI explicitly describes the display as customizable with future expandability, suggesting the company plans to grow its functionality through Software Update Packages, as it has consistently done for the Hi-5 hand unit and the cforce mini and plus since their introduction. The motor also supports manual calibration directly on the unit, a mode designed for very sensitive lenses where an automated calibration sweep could risk mechanical damage. That is a meaningful detail for anyone working with delicate vintage primes, rehoused glass with limited end-stops, or specialty optics like the recently introduced ARRI Ensō primes, which is the lens shown in ARRI’s own product imagery for the cforce MAX.

Connectivity, daisy-chaining, and power

The MAX carries dual LBUS ports for daisy-chaining and is fully backwards compatible with existing LBUS infrastructure. ARRI’s stated typical limit is up to three motors connected in series via LBUS, with additional power supplied separately through an LBUS-to-D-Tap cable when the camera cannot provide enough through its LBUS or LCS port. The company specifically calls out the ARRI ALEXA Mini LF as a case where supplementary power is recommended, and notes that high-load setups with multiple motors should be powered externally to ensure reliable calibration and performance.

On the electrical side, the MAX accepts a wide 10.5 to 34 V DC supply range and pulls a maximum of 96 W. It is compatible with most existing ARRI mounting brackets, rods, and drive gears, so existing crews can fold the motor into established rigs without rebuilding their accessory kit from scratch. Calibration can be initiated from a range of control points, including the ARRI Hi-5 hand unit, directly through compatible cameras such as the ARRI ALEXA 35 and ALEXA 35 Xtreme, via a motor controller like the RIA-1, or right on the motor screen itself.

A new Motor Rod Clamp MRC-1 designed for the whole cforce line

Alongside the motor, ARRI has introduced the Motor Rod Clamp MRC-1, available in 15 mm and 19 mm versions. Both clamps are toolless and mount via a dovetail interface, sitting alongside the existing Clamp Console 2 as a faster, more rig-friendly alternative. Crucially, the MRC-1 is not exclusive to the new motor: it is also compatible with the cforce mini and cforce mini RF, which ARRI explicitly positions as a meaningful upgrade for existing Hi-5 system users looking for better stability and quicker repositioning of motors during a setup change.

The dovetail-and-rod approach is familiar from elsewhere in the ARRI ecosystem, and the MRC-1’s reduced form factor is clearly aimed at gimbal and Steadicam crews who have to keep weight and bulk under control. The clamps are sold separately under part numbers K2.0055222 (15 mm) and K2.0053386 (19 mm), or bundled together with the motor in dedicated 15 mm and 19 mm basic kits.

Built for tough conditions, with gear-driven flexibility

ARRI rates the cforce MAX for an operating temperature range of -20 °C to +50 °C (-4 °F to 122 °F) and a relative humidity range of 0 to 95% up to +45 °C (113 °F). The motor is designed to remain operable on damp surfaces or with wet fingers, though ARRI sensibly recommends keeping all ECS components clear of excessive moisture. Beta tester and focus puller Georg Lanz, quoted in ARRI’s launch material, says he used the motor “in the hottest place on Earth, in jungles, and out on the open sea,” crediting its responsiveness and speed for letting him do better work in documentary and other free-flowing situations where he is constantly reacting to unexpected movement.

Gear choice also plays into the performance envelope. The default 50-tooth gear hits the headline 400 t/s figure, but ARRI notes that swapping to a 40-tooth gear shifts the balance toward torque, with a corresponding reduction in maximum speed to around 320 t/s. That is a useful option for crews who deliberately want more grunt for stiff lens gears at the expense of outright speed.

Where the MAX fits in the broader Hi-5 ecosystem

In context, the cforce MAX is the latest piece in an ARRI Electronic Control System ecosystem that has grown markedly more sophisticated in recent years. The Hi-5 has gained the SX single-axis variant, the new SmallHD lens data overlay license, and steady firmware additions; the ARRI Camera Companion App added remote FIZ control through cforce motors; and the company’s flagship ALEXA 35 has both a Base model and the new Xtreme variant tied tightly into the ECS workflow. The MAX is the first cforce motor designed from the ground up to act as a smart node in that network rather than a relatively dumb actuator at the end of an LBUS cable.

The replacement of the cforce plus is also worth pausing on. ARRI does not retire products lightly, and the plus has been a dependable workhorse for years. Trading it out for a faster, smaller, and more intelligent successor is a clearer signal of where the company’s lens control roadmap is heading: more processing on the motor itself, tighter integration with focus tracking and virtual production, and a continued push to keep the entire Hi-5 ecosystem feeling cohesive rather than bolted together.

Pricing and availability

The cforce MAX is offered at launch in two basic kits that pair the motor with the matching MRC-1 clamp: the cforce MAX Basic Kit 15 mm (KK.0055606) and the cforce MAX Basic Kit 19 mm (KK.0055607). The MRC-1 clamps are also available separately in 15 mm and 19 mm versions for use with cforce mini and cforce mini RF motors. ARRI confirms the cforce MAX is available now, and full product information is on the official ARRI cforce MAX page. At the time of writing, ARRI has not published a global retail price on its product page, so we recommend contacting your local ARRI dealer for current pricing in your market.

Are you ready to put the cforce MAX on your next focus pull, or will you stick with the cforce mini and mini RF for now? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!