Cinema Cameras. Cinema Lenses. Aerial Cinematography.
The Right Tool for Every Shot
Our Video Production Equipment — Newport Beach, Orange County
There is a version of this page where we list gear specs and model numbers and the reader comes away thinking they understand what they are buying. That is not this page.
What you are actually buying is the judgment that goes behind the equipment — twenty-three years of knowing which camera goes on which shot, which lens decision changes the feeling in the room, and when the most expensive rig in the kit is not the right tool for this particular scene. The equipment is the instrument. The director is the musician.
That said — the instrument matters. Here is what we bring to every production.
Lighting
Our standard lighting package includes LED panels, tungsten sources, and daylight HMI units depending on production requirements. We do not rely on available light except when available light is genuinely the right choice — a decision made before the camera turns on, not discovered on set.
Audio
Professional production audio — Sennheiser and DPA lavalier microphones, Schoeps and Sennheiser boom microphones, Sound Devices field recorders. Audio is the most consistently underproduced element in video production and the one audiences respond to most viscerally when it is wrong. We do not cut corners on it.
Cinema Cameras
We shoot on cinema-grade cameras with cinema lenses. Cinema-grade cameras produce a depth and latitude of image that consumer and prosumer cameras cannot replicate in post-production.
When a project calls for it, we shoot on cinema cameras that produce a distinctive filmic quality that certain brands and certain projects require.
The practical difference between cinema-grade footage and consumer-camera footage is visible to anyone who looks. It is not a subtle distinction, and it matters when the finished film is going to represent your organization to every person who watches it.
Lenses
We shoot on cinema prime lens sets. Cinema primes produce a rendering of light, color, and depth that zoom lenses and photo lenses do not — a quality that is immediately visible in the finished footage even to untrained eyes. Shallow depth of field, smooth focus pulls, and the specific optical character of each prime focal length are creative tools, not just technical specifications.
Why the Equipment List Matters to You
Because cinema-grade equipment produces footage that looks and feels different from everything else — and because that difference is visible to your audience even if they cannot articulate why. The quality of production is a proxy for the quality of your organization. A film that looks like your internal team shot it on an iPhone tells a potential client something about you, whether you intend it to or not.
We bring the equipment that makes the difference visible.
Questions about what a specific production requires? Call (949) 449-4472 or email director@hilomotionpictures.com. We will tell you exactly what your project needs and why.
Drone and Aerial
We own and operate our drone fleet, and our aerial cinematography is directed by Timothy. No borrowed equipment. See our drone video production work.
Our primary aerial platform is a cinema-grade drone capable of carrying stabilized gimbal rigs for cinema-camera footage. For productions requiring a smaller form factor, we have multiple stabilized multi-rotor platforms.
Post-Production
Editing and color grading are handled by our own team. Color grading carries a Hollywood Technicolor color science lineage — the same color pipeline used in feature film post-production. We craft the color of each project individually. More on our post-production and editing process.