Help & Documentation

Two pools, one view: your own devices (the ones you add manually or import) and the stock catalog (thousands of devices that ship with the app and update when the stock data syncs). The 'My custom devices / All' toggle in the toolbar switches between the two views.

• My custom devices — only devices you (or your collaborators, via Cloud Sync) have added. Editable and deletable.
• All — your devices plus the built-in stock catalog. A stock entry can be edited in place: only the fields you change are stored, it shows an 'Edited' badge, and the fields you left alone keep receiving catalog updates. It cannot be deleted, only reverted.
• Stock devices include accurate, pre-filled fields for weight, power draw, mount, and other specs — useful when you need a complete spec sheet without retyping.
• Categories on each device drive grouping in the library, the camera-package picker, and PDF export.
• Favourites (the star icon on a device card) are user-specific and persist across sessions; they also sync if Cloud Sync is on.

The controls along the top of the Device Library are how you filter, sort, and switch what's visible.

• Search input — Cmd/Ctrl + F focuses it when the Device Library is open. Matches name, brand, model, category, details, and aliases (not notes).
• Category dropdown — A flat A–Z list of every category and subcategory the library uses. Pick one to filter; '★ Favorites' is always pinned at the top of the dropdown; 'All Devices' shows everything with category headers.
• Sort dropdown — Sort by Name (A–Z), Date Added, or Category.
• 'My custom devices / All' toggle — switch between your own devices and the combined library (yours + stock).
• Filtered / total counter (e.g. '42 / 350') so you can see at a glance how aggressive the current filter is.
• 'Add' button in the page header — opens the Add Item window to create a new device.
• On a phone (below the tablet breakpoint) all of the above collapses into a single row: a 'Filters' button carrying a badge with the number of active filters, the sort dropdown, and the filtered / total counter. Tap Filters to open a sheet holding the category picker, the 'My custom devices / All' switch, the category / brand / attribute chip filters, and Import, Export, Download template and Reset Library — nothing is dropped, it is folded.

Use this when something isn't in the stock catalog or you need a custom variant of one that is.

1. Click 'Add' in the page header. The Add Item window opens on its Basics step.
2. Enter a clear name. 'Brand Model Specifier' works (e.g. 'Sony FX6', 'Arri SkyPanel S60-C').
3. Pick a category from the dropdown. Use a category name you already have — consistent names make filters predictable.
4. Fill in the technical fields you have: weight, dimensions, power draw, mount, etc. Empty fields stay empty; they don't affect anything. On the Attributes step, 'Your own attributes' takes anything the category does not suggest — Add for your own key, value and unit, or From Template for a ready-made one. A custom category has no suggestions, so that is where its attributes go.
5. On the Logistics step, optionally add the Replacement Value (EUR) and Country of Origin (ISO) used for insurance and ATA Carnet paperwork, a photo URL, and whether the device is a case or container.
6. A name that already exists in your library gets a warning, so you do not create a duplicate by accident.
7. Save. The device is immediately usable in any project. Closing with unsaved changes asks 'Discard Changes?' first.

Both your own devices and stock catalog devices can be edited. On a stock device only the fields you change are stored as your override — it shows an 'Edited' badge, and the fields you left alone keep receiving catalog updates.

1. Find the device and open it.
2. Click 'Edit' in its detail panel.
3. Adjust whatever fields you need. A stock device's category cannot be changed in place — use 'Save as separate custom copy' and change the copy's category.
4. Save. On an edited stock device, 'Revert to catalog version' drops your changes again.

Search and sort are independent — both apply at once. Combined with the category dropdown that's three filters, which is enough for any realistic library size.

• Search matches name, brand, model, category, subcategory, details, and aliases (not the notes field). Case-insensitive substring + light fuzzy matching.
• The category dropdown narrows to a single category before the search runs.
• Sort: Name (A–Z), Date Added (newest first), or Category (grouped, A–Z within each group).
• Results display with section headers so you can see which category each result belongs to even after sorting.
• Clear the search input to see everything in the current category again.

Star the devices you use on every project. Every device picker then lists them first — and the devices you picked recently right after them.

• Click the star icon on any device card to mark it a favourite.
• Pick '★ Favorites' from the category dropdown to filter the library to only your favourites.
• Every device field and list has the star too — on the right of the Power Calculator and Camera Package dropdowns, the tools, New Project, the 'Select Device' window, shot-list equipment, floor-plan lights, modifiers and stands, and gear sets. Star the device right where you picked it.
• Open a device picker with nothing typed and it lists '★ Favourites' first, then 'Recently used' — your last five picks — then the full list. Pinned devices also keep their place in the full A–Z list, so you find them either way.
• Typing a search replaces both groups with the matches.
• Every device field in the Camera Package editor, the Power Calculator, the DoF Simulator, the Data Calculator, the Frame Line Composer camera and the New Project camera is searchable: type any part of the name, in any order — the words don't need to match the catalogue's own order — or a catalogue alias. A small typo still finds it.
• Click the star again on a favourited device to remove it — wherever you starred it.
• Favourites persist across sessions and sync between devices if Cloud Sync is on. 'Recently used' is remembered on this device only.

Items move from the library into a project category through a multi-select picker — pick several devices at once, then add them all in one go.

1. Open the project and the category you want to add to.
2. Click 'Add multiple' on the category to open the device picker (your library + the stock catalog).
3. Search or filter, then click each device row to select it — selected rows get a checkmark.
4. Click 'Add N Items' to add the whole selection to the category at once.
5. Set quantity on each project row that just appeared.
6. Assign a provider — Rental, Owned (you), Owned (a contact), or a specific crew member.
7. Optionally add a per-item note ('handheld primary', 'backup', 'client request').

Bulk-import devices from a CSV — useful when seeding from a rental-house inventory or migrating from another tool.

• The library accepts a CSV with at least Name and Category columns. The downloadable template also has Brand, Model, Subcategory, Details, and attribute columns (power draw, weight, voltage, mount).
• The Item Import dialog inside a project is a different tool: it adds rows to that project's category. Each imported name is also saved to your Device Library, to the entry that already has that name (capitals and spaces at either end are ignored) or as a new entry, and the row is linked to that entry.
• The Import dialog has an 'AI assist' block: copy its prompt into ChatGPT or Gemini with your PDF/rental quote/messy list, and paste the resulting CSV.
• UTF-8 encoding is the safe choice for non-ASCII characters (umlauts, accents).
• Re-importing the same file makes duplicates. Export a backup first if you're not sure.

The stock catalog is the built-in library that ships with the app. It exists alongside your own devices and updates when the stock data syncs.

• Toggle 'All' in the toolbar to include stock entries in what you see.
• Stock entries can be edited in place as a field-level override ('Revert to catalog version' undoes it), or copied with 'Save as separate custom copy' when you want an independent device. They cannot be deleted.
• Coverage is broad — cinema cameras, photo cameras, lenses by mount, FIZ motors/controllers, monitors, distance sensors, cages, batteries, cables, drones, action cameras, and accessories.
• Stock entries carry pre-filled fields for weight, power draw, mount, and other technical specs — useful when you need a complete spec sheet without retyping.
• Where a stock entry cites a source, its spec sheet ends with a 'Verified Source' row showing the full address of the page the specs were read from — the manufacturer, a dealer or a camera database such as CineD. Tap it to open that page and check a figure at its origin.
• A stock entry's Notes card says what the catalogue knows about its figures — for example that a weight is approximate or a power draw provisional until the maker publishes a spec sheet.
• When you edit a stock entry, a value the catalogue stores as a structure (a camera's lens mounts or recording media, for example) is shown as text and cannot be typed over; you can remove it. Saving without changing anything leaves the entry matching the catalogue.

Stock catalog specs are maintained centrally. If you find a wrong figure, report it from wherever you spotted it and it goes straight into a review queue.

• Open the device and choose 'Report incorrect data'. The same button sits on the device detail panel, the mobile device sheet, a project's Camera Specs, and the Power, Data, DoF, Diopter and Lens Coverage tools.
• Pick the field that is wrong — the current value is filled in for you — then give the correct value, a short explanation, or both.
• You can only have one open report per device field. Send a second one only after the first has been reviewed.
• Reports are only offered on stock catalog entries. Your own devices you edit directly.

Open any camera and the detail panel carries a Data rates card: every codec the body records, with what it costs in Mbit/s.

• The card names the geometry it quoted — "Quoted at 4K UHD 3840×2160 @ 24 fps" — directly above the numbers. Every RAW and mezzanine codec bills per pixel, so a bitrate without a raster and a frame rate is a number nobody can check.
• The raster is the largest frame the body writes; the frame rate is 24 fps, or the mode's own ceiling where the body cannot reach 24.
• A codec with no sourced rate is left out rather than estimated, and a content-dependent codec is shown as a range prefixed with ≈.
• The Help assistant shows the same rates. Ask it about a camera and the device card it cites carries a Data rates group alongside the ports, mounts and sensor modes.
• For any other sensor mode, frame rate or card size, use the Data Calculator under Tools — it reads the same figures and works out record time, cards needed and total storage.

Open a diffusion filter and the detail panel carries a Diffusion card: which line it belongs to, the grades and sizes it ships, and how strongly it works on the nine rated axes the Filter Finder uses — so Tiffen, Schneider, Tilta, NiSi and Vaxis glass can be compared without translating between three marketing vocabularies.

• Family and Effect Class place the filter in the published taxonomy — White, Black or Warm Halation, Optical Resolution, Warm Resolution, Resolution & Contrast, or Atmosphere.
• Available Grades lists the densities the line actually ships, weakest first (Black Pro-Mist runs 1/8 through 3; Schneider Radiant Soft runs 1/4 through 5).
• Contrast Reduction, Halation (around light sources) and Resolution Reduction are the three axes of the Tiffen diffusion triangle.
• Glow (overall bloom), Colour Shift (with its Colour Direction), Density Accuracy, Shadow Lift, Skin Smoothing and Star / Multi-image are rated alongside them. Shadow Lift is the axis that actually separates a black mist from a white one — a black mist holds the blacks, a white mist lifts them.
• Each axis reads None, Minimal, Low, Moderate or Strong. No manufacturer publishes numeric scores, so these are a consistent reading of each maker's own description rather than a measurement.
• Rating Basis quotes the exact manufacturer sentence every rating was read from, so you can judge or overturn it without re-researching the product.
• ND, IRND, UV, clear, polarisers, diopters and streak or prism glass carry no Diffusion card here — they are not diffusion. 'Compare in the Filter Finder' under the card opens the line in the Filter Finder, which also rates light-control glass on the axes that apply to it.

A few small habits keep a personal library usable long-term.

• Delete devices you sold or no longer use. They clutter search results.
• Update notes when the condition of a device changes — what was 'great condition' two years ago may not be today.
• Standardise category names. 'Audio' and 'Sound' as two separate categories is the most common drift.
• Star the devices you currently use heavily; un-star the ones that have fallen out of rotation.
• Export a manual backup (Settings → Backup & Data) before any large bulk change — a CSV re-import, a mass delete, a category rename.