What Chater Camera does

Chater Camera, Inc. is a full-service digital cinema and video equipment rental company headquartered at 1336 Ninth Street in Berkeley, California, with a secondary drop-off location in Cupertino. The company rents premium cameras, lenses, lighting, grip, audio, monitoring, and production accessories to professional motion picture productions operating in the San Francisco Bay Area and broader Northern California region. Its inventory includes the latest-generation digital cinema cameras (ARRI Alexa 35 and Mini LF, Sony Venice 2 8K, RED V-Raptor XE 8K VV, Canon EOS C300 Mk III, Nikon ZR 6K FF Cinema), high-speed cameras (Phantom Flex 4K, Phantom VEO 640S), and an extensive lens collection spanning anamorphic, full-frame, Super 35mm, macro, telephoto, specialty, and probe optics from Cooke, Zeiss, ARRI, Angenieux, Fujinon, Leica, Sigma, and others. The company states inventory value exceeding $1M.

The company operates a day-rate (usage-based) rental model with per-item daily prices ranging from $1 (sandbags) to $950+ (premium cinema cameras and zoom lenses). Its go-to-market motion is direct B2B: production clients set up online accounts, upload insurance documentation, sign digital contracts, and pick up equipment at the Berkeley office or drop off at Cupertino. The customer base spans a horizontal set of motion picture use cases including feature films, television series, commercials, music videos, corporate video, and documentary production. Marketing channels consist of the chatercamera.com website catalog, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and industry word-of-mouth referrals within the Northern California production community.

Chater Camera is a privately held corporation with no disclosed venture capital or private equity backing. The company has 1-10 employees, is led by Owner/Manager Jay Farrington and Business Manager Erin Anderson, and shows no acquisitions, partnerships, or funding rounds in the available source material. Operations are regional with a global footprint claim absent; the company explicitly serves the San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Northern California production market.

Name

Chater Camera

Legal name

Chater Camera, Inc.

Website

https://chatercamera.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Chater Camera is a privately held, Berkeley-based digital cinema and video equipment rental company serving motion picture productions in Northern California with day-rate rentals of premium cameras, lenses, and production accessories.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Equipment Rentals: Day-rate rental of professional cinema cameras, lenses, lighting, grip, audio, monitoring, and support equipment to film and video productions. Pricing varies by equipment category with typical daily rates ranging from $1 to $950 per item.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Chater Camera rents professional digital cinema cameras, prime and zoom lenses, lighting, grip, audio, monitoring, and production accessories on a per-day basis to motion picture productions in Northern California. Customers set up online accounts, submit insurance documentation, sign rental contracts, and pick up gear at the Berkeley main office or drop it off in Cupertino. Equipment inventory spans high-speed Phantom cameras, ARRI/Sony/RED/Canon cinema bodies, anamorphic and specialty optics, and full production support packages.

Product overview

Chater Camera is a full-service digital cinema and video rental company providing premium cameras, lenses, and accessories to the motion picture industry in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Northern California. The company operates a multi-category rental model with specialized equipment organized into distinct product lines: high-speed cameras (Phantom series), 35mm digital cinema cameras (ARRI Alexa, Sony Venice, RED, Canon Cinema), prime lenses (Arri Signature, Zeiss Supreme, Cooke, Leica, Sigma Cine), zoom lenses (Angenieux Optimo/EZ, ARRI Signature, Fujinon Premista), specialty lenses (anamorphic, macro, probe, shift/tilt), production accessories (filters, follow focus, matteboxes), media/recorders, monitoring equipment (wireless video, streaming), support equipment (gimbals, tripods, sliders, motion control), audio equipment (recorders, microphones, wireless systems), and lighting (LED, HMI, fluorescent). The company offers an online customer portal for account management, equipment viewing, and order processing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• High-Speed Camera Rentals Day-rate rental of high-frame-rate digital cinema cameras including Phantom Flex 4K and Phantom VEO 640S PL/EF for slow-motion and high-speed capture, available to motion picture and commercial productions.
• 35mm Digital Cinema Camera Rentals Per-day rental of professional digital cinema camera bodies including ARRI Alexa 35 4.6K, ARRI Alexa Mini LF, ARRI Alexa Mini 4K, ARRI Amira Premium 4K, Sony Venice 2 8K Full Frame, Sony Venice 6K Full Frame, Sony Burano 8K, Sony FX9 Full Frame 6K, Sony FX6 Full Frame 4K, RED V-Raptor XE 8K VV, RED Monstro 8K VV, RED Gemini 5K, RED Komodo 6K, Nikon ZR 6K FF Cinema, Canon EOS C300 Mk III, and Canon EOS C70.
• Film Camera Rentals Day-rate rental of analog film production cameras including the Aaton XTR Prod 16mm for traditional film shoots.
• Prime Lens Rentals Comprehensive prime lens rental program covering anamorphic primes (Xelmus Apollo, Cooke 2x Anamorphic, Atlas Orion/Mercury), full-frame primes (ARRI Signature, Zeiss Supreme, Cooke Panchro/i Classic FF, Leica-M/Leitz Hugo, Sigma Cine FF, Zeiss CP.3 XD), super 35mm primes (ARRI Master Primes, Cooke S4/i, Zeiss Ultraprimes, Zeiss Super Speeds), and DSLR/mirrorless prime sets.
• Macro Lens Rentals Specialty macro lens rentals including Zeiss Master Macro 100mm T2, Cooke Panchro/i Classic 65mm Macro T2.3, ARRI Macro 100mm T3, ARRI Macro 50mm T2.8, ARRI Macro 40mm T2.1, ARRI Macro 32mm T2.1, Cinescope Leica 100mm R Macro T2.9, and Leitz Cine MacroLux 95.
• Specialty Lens Rentals Specialty optics rentals including the P+S Technik Skater Scope, Laowa Pro2be 24mm T8 Set, Laowa 24mm Peri Probe Lens, Laowa 24mm Probe Lens, ARRI Shift Tilt Lens System, Century Swing Shift Lens System, and Lensbaby Composer Pro PL for distinctive visual looks.
• Zoom Lens Rentals Comprehensive zoom lens rental program covering anamorphic zooms (Laowa Sunlight), full-frame zooms (ARRI Signature Zoom series, Angenieux Optimo Ultra 12x, Cooke Varotal/i FF, Fujinon Premista, Canon Cine-Servo 50-1000mm), 35mm studio zooms (Angenieux Optimo, Cooke Varotal Classic, Canon CN-E), and 35mm compact zooms.
• Mount Adapters, Extenders, and Expanders Rental of lens mount adapters and extenders including ARRI LPL Mount variants, Canon RF to PL/LPL mounts, Sony E to PL/LPL mounts, Metabones Speed Booster variants, ARRI 1.7x Signature Zoom Extender, IBE Optics PLX2-VV Extender, Tokina 1.6x Expander, Angenieux 2.0x/1.4x Extender, and Century extenders.
• Camera and Production Accessories Rental of production accessories including filters (diopters, polarizers, ND, diffusion, color/FX, graduated), electronic accessories (wireless follow focus, focus assist, zoom controls, power distribution), mechanical accessories (director's viewfinders, follow focus, matteboxes, handheld rigs, baseplates/dovetails), batteries, chargers, and splashbags/housings.
• Media and Recorder Rentals Rental of professional media storage and digital recorders including ARRI Codex, Phantom CineMag, Sony AXSM, Sony CFexpress, RED MINI-MAG, SanDisk CFexpress/CFast, SDXC/SDHC cards, Sound Devices media, media readers, Sony XDCA-FS7, Sony AXS R7, and Sound Devices PIX 240i.
• Monitoring Equipment Rentals Professional monitoring rental solutions including production monitors (Sony PVM-X2400, Flanders Scientific DM250/DM240, SmallHD Cine 4K), handheld monitors (Atomos Shogun 7, SmallHD UltraBright, TV Logic), wireless video transmission (Teradek Bolt XT 3000/500), and streaming devices (Teradek SERV 4K, Teradek Cube 755, Teradek Serv Pro).
• Camera Support Equipment Rentals Rental of tripods and fluid heads (OConnor 120EX/2575/2560/2060, Cartoni Lambda, Sachtler Cine 30HD/Video 20/18, Ronford Baker), stabilizers/gimbals (DJI Ronin 2, Freefly Movi Pro, EasyRig), sliders and dollies (Matthews DC Slider, Dana Dolly Kit, P+S Technik Skater Mini Dolly), motion control systems, and jibs.
• Audio Equipment Rentals Rental of professional audio equipment including audio recorders/mixers (Sound Devices 664, Sound Devices 302), microphones (Sanken COS-11, Sennheiser MKE400/MKH 60, Schoeps CMC/MK41, Audio Technica AT875R), wireless microphone systems (Lectrosonics HHa/195D/L Series/211, Sennheiser G3), and accessories (Sound Devices MM-1, Sony MDR-7506, boom poles).
• Lighting Equipment Rentals Rental of professional lighting solutions including LED lights (ARRI SkyPanel S60-C, LitePanels Gemini/Astra, Kino Flo Celeb 200), HMI lights (K5600 Joker 800w/400w), fluorescent lights (Kino Flo 4x4), and grip equipment (Magliner Jr Cart, C-Stands, Sandbags, Chimera Video PRO Lightbank, flags, silks).

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• ARRI Rental: ARRI Rental provides ARRI Alexa cameras, Signature Primes, Master Anamorphics, and lighting globally. Direct overlap with Chater's ARRI-heavy inventory for premium features, with greater scale and manufacturer alignment.
• Panavision: Panavision is the dominant global cinema equipment rental house offering cameras (Panaflex, Millennium DXL), lenses, lighting, grip, and post services. It competes with Chater on Bay Area features and high-end commercials but operates at vastly larger scale with bundled production services.
• Adorama Rental Co. Adorama is a major photography and cinema retailer in NYC with an equipment rental division carrying cinema cameras, lenses, lighting, and audio — broader portfolio than Chater but overlapping product categories.

Direct peers

• Hot Rod Cameras: Hot Rod Cameras is a specialty cinema camera and lens rental house (originally LA-based) offering ARRI, RED, Sony, Cooke, Zeiss, and Angenieux — direct product overlap with Chater for high-end commercial and feature work.
• Keslow Camera: Keslow Camera is a West Coast cinema equipment rental house (LA, SF) stocking ARRI, Sony, RED, Cooke, Zeiss, Angenieux — essentially the same product lines as Chater, with overlapping Bay Area presence.
• Cinequipt: Cinequipt is a Minneapolis-based cinema equipment rental house offering ARRI, RED, Sony cameras and premium lenses to Midwest features and commercials — comparable model and inventory to Chater, but serving a different regional market.
• Otto Nemenz International: Otto Nemenz is a long-established Los Angeles-based camera and lens rental house serving the Hollywood feature and commercial market with ARRI, Sony, Cooke, Zeiss inventory analogous to Chater's.
• Rule Boston Camera: Rule Boston Camera is a New England-based cinema equipment rental house offering ARRI, Sony, RED, Cooke, Zeiss, and Angenieux inventory with comparable service model — same-day availability, prep, technical support — to Chater's Northern California operation.
• The Camera Store (TCS): TCS Camera is a Calgary-based cinema and photography equipment rental and retail operation offering ARRI/RED/Sony cameras and professional lenses — analogous hybrid rental/retail model to parts of Chater's catalog.
• Hand Held Films: Hand Held Films is a Bay Area cinema camera and lens rental company directly competing with Chater in the same Northern California market, with similar ARRI/RED/Sony/Cooke/Zeiss inventory.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ChaterCamera
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chater-camera
• Instagraminstagram.com/ChaterCamera

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chater Camera