PERG Newsletter: August 2023

       

| PERG News: August 2023 | 

During the work stoppage, which is taking a devastating toll on the rental community, PERG has focused on providing educational resources for members, filling the time with resources that during normal times you might be too busy for. PERG recently uploaded 14 new videos to the ESTA YouTube channel. The links have been shared with PERG members via email. Please read on to find out more about PERG’s activities.

In This Issue:

Display Calibration Training

Flanders Scientific, Small HD, and Sony are three major vendors in display technology. Between them they comprise the bulk of rental inventory. PERG’s ongoing series of Coffee Breaks on professional display calibration feature excellent demonstrations that discuss the hardware, the software, and the procedures. Links have been shared with PERG members via email. Read more...

Rental Software User Groups

Rental companies always seem to have a love-hate relationship with their rental software. There are always situations where the software does not seem to provide an adequate answer, but it leaves you wondering if there is a feature in the software you just don’t know about? Is there a practical work-around that could solve the issue? How does everyone else deal with it? During the spring of 2023 PERG received requests from two member companies asking about starting a User Group for a specific software. Read more...

Rental Companies Fall Victim to Preventable Theft-by-Rental
It's a mixture of sympathy and frustration that we feel when we hear about a rental company getting ripped off by fraudsters, but we feel the frustration most acutely when the criminals’ identities were posted within our community prior to the theft. All rental companies, whether members of PERG or not, are strongly urged to double check that appropriate members of your staff are registered for RENTAL GUARD. Read more...

Filmscape Technical Videos and Product Overviews 

In June 2023, in partnership with PERG, Filmscape Chicago offered two days of maintenance and QC training of lighting, grip, camera, and lens equipment, specifically tailored to the rental community. If you couldn’t attend the sessions, complete recordings are now available (still free!). The sessions can be accessed via the links that were emailed to PERG member rental companies. Read more...

Announcements and Auctions
Tiger is pleased to announce to all the PERG members two upcoming online auctions on Aug 29th and Oct 24th consisting of rental and production ready gear located in Culver City, California and San Fernando, California. The first sale on Aug 29th will feature excess gear from Keslow Camera with over 500 lots of high-quality AV gear from Arri, Angenieux, Ultra Prime, Fujinon, O’connor, Sony, TV Logic & Zeiss. The auction is currently open for registration and will be available for bidding starting on Aug 22. Read more...

Display Calibration Training

| PERG News: August 2023 |

Flanders Scientific, Small HD, and Sony are three major vendors in display technology. Between them they comprise the bulk of rental inventory. PERG’s ongoing series of Coffee Breaks on professional display calibration feature excellent demonstrations that discuss the hardware, the software, and the procedures. Links have been shared with PERG members via email.

On August 2, PERG hosted Bram Desmet, CEO of Flanders Scientific. He presented a comprehensive and detailed explanation of display calibration accompanied by videos regarding specific software. On August 9, PERG hosted Mike Cleas, Director of Color Science and Analytics at Small HD. Mike presented a full demonstration following the Calman integrated workflow for Small HD OLED 22. Along the way, both presentations answered questions about calibration equipment and techniques. PERG is currently working to find a date for Sony’s presentation. PERG members should see an invitation in your inbox soon with full event details!

As Bram explained, proper calibration is essential for ensuring consistency from production to postproduction and between the various post facilities that may have a hand in the post process. The core principle is to preserve the creative intent of the filmmakers every step along the way. Inaccurate displays can cost time and money in tracking down issues that may not actually exist, and it can also mask issues that may only manifest when viewed on a properly configured display. Bram emphasized that white balance by itself does not provide accurate calibration. Gamut, luminance, EOTF, and color volume are all critical components. 

For a rental company, having trained technicians able the ensure proper calibration before equipment goes out to customers is a mark of their professional qualifications as an equipment supplier. It also enables them to be aware of equipment that is approaching the end of its useful life, at least as a reference monitor, and when it may be time to move the monitor to non-critical duties. The presentations discussed various types of calibration instruments and the pro and cons of high-end vs basic equipment, helping rental companies get a handle on the level of technology that is appropriate for rental needs.

The series of Coffee Breaks on display calibration came about as a result of input from PERG members. If there’s a topic of discussion that you would like PERG to host, please feel free to reach out to PERG or suggest it to a PERG Council member. 

Rental Software User Groups

| PERG News: August 2023 |

Rental companies always seem to have a love-hate relationship with their rental software. There are always situations where the software does not seem to provide an adequate answer, but it leaves you wondering if there is a feature in the software you just don’t know about? Is there a practical work-around that could solve the issue? How does everyone else deal with it? During the spring of 2023 PERG received requests from two member companies asking about starting a User Group for a specific software. They wanted to have a forum to share information peer-to-peer as well as to engage with the software vendor. PERG ran with the idea and the user group has been very successful, engaged, and fruitful for the companies involved. 

The software vendor enthusiastically embraced the idea and offered their full support. PERG has been holding weekly 90-minute meetings on Zoom during the strike, sharing a screen, and sharing challenges and solutions. The bulk of questions are directed to the training and implementation specialist of the software vendor, but questions are also asked to the group – “How many people do it this way? How many that way? Why?” The meetings are organized around broad categories—interface navigation, inventory, customer management/job organization, quotes and orders, and billing. The group also covered integration with accounting software. The group is focused on solutions and learning; it is not a forum for complaints, but the software vendor keeps a running list of ideas for possible future development. These have been collaborative and positive meetings.

The meetings are recorded and made available to the group through a private channel. Recording the sessions for rental staff to review at their convenience has proved very valuable. After a meeting that included about 12 companies, there were more than twenty views within the first week after the meeting was uploaded.

It is important to emphasize that this group came about because PERG members asked for it. The existence of User Groups is not an endorsement by PERG of any product. PERG has determined that various support networks exist, in addition to the software support provided by the developer. We do not want to duplicate efforts that is already being successfully implemented by others. When PERG conducted its rental software survey in 2021, we asked rental companies about this question, and there were clear differences in the needs of users between different software products. PERG’s role is only to help facilitate where there is a need.

With the success of the initial User Group, PERG members who use other software are now discussing the value of forming PERG User Groups or staging one-off PERG meetings in collaboration with their software manufacturer. If you would be interested in taking part in a User Group for the software you use, reach out to PERG and let us know. As a trade association, we are the neutral party that may be the ideal platform for helpful discussion.

Rental Companies Fall Victim to Preventable Theft-by-Rental

| PERG News: August 2023 |

It's a mixture of sympathy and frustration that we feel when we hear about a rental company getting ripped off by fraudsters, but we feel the frustration most acutely when the criminals’ identities were posted within our community prior to the theft. All rental companies, whether members of PERG or not, are strongly urged to double check that appropriate members of your staff are registered for RENTAL GUARD. Receiving theft alerts and checking the RENTAL GUARD WATCH LIST enables rental companies to know about threats in a timely manner as soon as they are identified by other rental companies. 

It is in every rental company’s interest to take advantage of information that is shared. PERG members receive push-email notifications from RENTAL GUARD whenever a questionable customer is reported via the Questionable Customer Alert. However, non-member rental companies must be proactive and check the RENTAL GUARD WATCHLIST.

The WATCH LIST is one of several important fraud prevention features that are part of the RENTAL GUARD platform. There are also other channels through which fraud and theft information is shared, Slack channels for example. These are valuable, immediate communication channels as well. To join PERG’s Slack channel, please send a request to PERG. LACameraSubrentals is another Slack channel developed by rental companies in LA, for rental agents by rental agents, to make sub-rentals easier. It is another source for questionable customer information. LACameraSubrentals is unaffiliated with any business, organization or institution.

However, RENTAL GUARD is the single, centralized, international depository for sharing theft information. We strongly urge all rental companies to report questionable customers through RENTAL GUARD. 

Every month, I remove email addresses from RENTAL GUARD because of personnel changes within rental companies. We want to be sure that rental companies are considering who to add to RENTAL GUARD to make up for those who have been removed. 

We also want to urge those who use RENTAL GUARD to make others aware of it, especially young rental companies that may be more vulnerable. RENTAL GUARD is a free service established for and by rental companies. It has proved effective in preventing equipment theft for rental companies that check it.

Filmscape Technical Videos and Product Overviews

| PERG News: August 2023 |

In June 2023, in partnership with PERG, Filmscape Chicago offered two days of maintenance and QC training of lighting, grip, camera, and lens equipment, specifically tailored to the rental community. If you couldn’t attend the sessions, complete recordings are now available (still free!). The sessions can be accessed via the links that were emailed to PERG member rental companies. Our thanks to our friends at Filmscape: Ned McGregor (Barbizon), Gary Adcock (Filmscape Chicago), Brentt Burns (MBS), and Collette Gabriel (Keslow Camera).

Lighting and Grip

AC Lighting. Network Switches and Monitoring Software. Anthony Sofflet, the Brand Manager for AC Lighting and AC Media, presents a primer on Giga core switches and network monitoring software from Luminex. The presentation covers different flavors of switches, including one-gig and 10 gig options, Poe plus and non-Poe options, ruggedized and install versions, mobile network configuration through R and Ao, and intuitive webUI for easy network configuration. The GigaCore 12 is a portable switch with ruggedized fiber connectors that can accommodate various fiber types, including nitric, dual quad, and single mode multimode.

Cream Source LNX System and Vortex Upgrade. Jim Amorosino discusses the LNX system including tools and prep for rental, mechanical safety features, and standard mounting options. The link system is fully scalable mounting system for mounting lighting arrays for small to large. Sean Goossen, Technology Evangelist at Cream Source, performs a full demonstration of upgrading Vortex fixtures to work with the LNX system. The presentation includes videos of the LNX system being used in the field. 

Astera Rental Efficiency Tricks. Thor Andre, Support Manager for Astera, discusses efficiency tricks geared for rental companies, color spaces, firmware updates, the use of stereo pins, warehousing, and wireless control protocols in their ecosystem, including Bluetooth pairing, radio PIN, and master PIN. Thor explains the importance of using different radio pins for multiple setups within range of each other, as using the same PIN can lead to problems when multiple setups are within range. The app transfers new firmware updates to the lights in the background.

Ratpac Dimmer Service Overview. Anthony Bernal, Service Technician at Ratpac, gives a detailed technical walk through of single-phase and three-phase dimmers, the power flow internally, the location of test points and their voltage, and points of possible failure during rentals. Anthony uses the 10-by-1.2-inch to demonstrate.

Fiilex Product Overview, Troubleshooting, Tips and Tricks. Brent Siebenaler, Fiilex Brand Representative, discusses Fiilex history and products including their tunable white light series and the RGBW matrix. After detailing the control interface, he covers firmware updating, wireless, DMX plots and mapping, troubleshooting, and tips and tricks. Fixtures include the G3 color and Q5 color, as well as the Quad Color, Matrix Color, and MotoQuad. 

Chimera Product Overview and Demonstrations. John Fuller, Director of Sales and Marketing, and Heather Doran, Marketing Communications Director, give product overview and product demonstrations. They discuss the wide range of supported fixtures, including strobes, speed lights, and large 24-kilowatt lights. Chimera offers two broad categories of light banks plus tech banks for current led fixtures and pop banks for specific fixtures. The company makes panel frames, speed rings, and panel frames to hold textiles in various sizes.

Arri HMI Service and Work Practices. In this 45-minute presentation, Brian Doran, Product Specialist, Lighting, at ARRI discusses technical details about fixtures, best practices, service questions, troubleshooting, prep, and equipment inspection. Brian highlights service and work practices to avoid equipment burn-out and prolong the service life of the equipment. 

Camera and Lenses

ARRI Hi-5 Ecosystem. Michael Best, Project Specialist for Pro Camera Accessories (PCS at ARRI), details the Hi-5 ecosystem—Arri’s stronger, faster, 5th-generation intelligent hand unit the Hi-5 follow focus, RIA-1 (radio interface adaptor), modular radios, the app, ZMU-4, and OCU-1.

ARRI Impression Filters – Vintage Effects for Signature Lenses. Chase Hagen, Technical Sales Rep for camera systems at ARRI describes ARRI’s new Impression filters. Signature zoom and prime lenses have a magnetic rear interface to mount back-of-lens filters designed around the high dynamic range and the Alexa 35. He describes compatibility, filter strength and types that create “gritty” or “glamorous” looks, with lots and lots of examples of images created with the filters. He addresses issues like focus shift, how the T-stop effects the filter strength, focusing for contrast vs edges, and myriad other helpful technical questions.

Chrosziel/Denz. Chrosziel Lens Projector and Denz Lens Testing Products. Michael Burnam, International Sales Rep for Chrosziel, performs a tour of the Chrosziel TP72 Large Format Projector and demonstrates lens testing products from Denz.

CORE SWX. Battery Maintenance, Repairs, and Good Work Practices. Battery Maintenance, Repairs, and Good Work Practices. Joe DeJulius, Technical Marketing, and Joe Teodosio, Chief Technical Officer, cover battery maintenance and battery care (especially during down times). They cover battery repairs, and Joe DeJulius describes how the Helix Max Series make life easier for rental companies and supplies great flexibility for customers.

Zeiss Tour. David Warner, Cinema Lens Specialist at Zeiss Cinema, gives a tour of Zeiss’ unique demo space—half clubhouse, half lab, a place for techs to come and perform tests, and screen footage, and talk optics. David describes the new camera tracking merger. He answers questions about Zeiss training, Ncam, lens metadata, updating lens firmware, and more.

Announcements and Auctions

| PERG News: August 2023 |

Tiger is pleased to announce to all the PERG members two upcoming online auctions on Aug 29th and Oct 24th consisting of rental and production ready gear located in Culver City, California and San Fernando, California. The first sale on Aug 29th will feature excess gear from Keslow Camera with over 500 lots of high-quality AV gear from Arri, Angenieux, Ultra Prime, Fujinon, O’connor, Sony, TV Logic & Zeiss. The auction is currently open for registration and will be available for bidding starting on Aug 22. (Sale link: DIGITAL CAMERAS, LENSES, HEADS, MATTE BOXES, MONITORS & GEAR ACCESSORIES | Tiger Commercial & Industrial) The sale on Oct 24th will include gear from PRG featuring over 1,000 lots of digital cameras, lenses, audio, speakers, LED walls, projectors, moving lights, lighting consoles and gear accessories. Bidding will be available on Oct 17th. (Sale link: OVER 1,000 LOTS: DIGITAL CAMERAS, LENSES, AUDIO, SPEAKERS, LED WALLS, PROJECTORS, MOVING LIGHTS, LIGHTING CONSOLES & GEAR ACCESSORIES | Tiger Commercial & Industrial)

These auctions are a testament to Tiger's commitment to bringing you top-notch equipment from trusted sources. Whether you're in the field of cinematography, production, or audio-visual technology, these events are tailor-made for you.

PERG News: August 2023

| PERG News: August 2023 | 

NEW PERG Coffee Breaks

Thirteen new PERG Coffee Breaks have been uploaded to ESTA’s YouTube channel. PERG is thrilled with the quality and informational value in these presentations. PERG greatly appreciates the effort and enthusiasm of the individuals and manufacturers involved as well as the team at Filmscape Chicago.

These sessions are intended for member rental companies only and are “unlisted” in YouTube, so please use the links below to view the presentations.

Display Calibration 

Bram Desmet, Flander’s Scientific. Display Calibration. 

Bram Desmet, CEO of Flanders Scientific, gives a comprehensive and detailed explanation of display calibration with videos and question and answer with rental company techs. The session covers: Why Calibrate? What is calibration? Not just white balance, but gamut, luminance, EOTF, and color volume are all critical components of accurate calibration. Calibration instruments. Colorimeters vs spectroradiometers. Test pattern generators. How to calibrate. Concepts of calibration, FSI’s Direct Connect Volumetric AutoCal procedure can serve as a good baseline model to start this discussion and cover all the points involved in a full calibration. 

More generic volumetric calibration of any display device, how to, general concepts. Manual calibration toggles, why/how to use. Validation as distinct from calibration. Calibration targets (SDR, different flavors of HDR, etc.)

Mike Claes, Small HD, Display Calibration

Mike Claes is Director of Color Science and Analytics at Small HD. Continuing PERG's series of Coffee Breaks covering display calibration, Mike demonstrates Calman integrated workflow for SmallHD OLED 22. To get the most out of the session, attendees are invited to have their calibration equipment and monitor ready, so everyone can follow along with Mike's live demo! 

Filmscape Chicago – Rental Days Presentations

The following virtual sessions were produced by Filmscape Chicago in June 2023 as part of Rental Days, a series of educational sessions for rental companies, in partnership with PERG/ESTA. Our thanks to our friends at Filmscape: Ned McGregor (Barbizon), Gary Adcock (Filmscape Chicago), Brentt Burns (MBS), and Collette Gabriel (Keslow Camera).

Filmscape Chicago: https://www.filmscapechicago.com 

Lighting and Grip

AC Lighting. Network Switches and Monitoring Software. Anthony Sofflet, the Brand Manager for AC Lighting and AC Media, presents a primer on Giga core switches and network monitoring software from Luminex. The presentation covers different flavors of switches, including one-gig and 10 gig options, Poe plus and non-Poe options, ruggedized and install versions, mobile network configuration through R and Ao, and intuitive webUI for easy network configuration. The GigaCore 12 is a portable switch with ruggedized fiber connectors that can accommodate various fiber types, including nitric, dual quad, and single mode multimode.

Cream Source LNX System and Vortex Upgrade. Jim Amorosino discusses the LNX system including tools and prep for rental, mechanical safety features, and standard mounting options. The link system is fully scalable mounting system for mounting lighting arrays for small to large. Sean Goossen, Technology Evangelist at Cream Source, performs a full demonstration of upgrading Vortex fixtures to work with the LNX system. The presentation includes videos of the LNX system being used in the field. 

Astera Rental Efficiency Tricks. Thor Andre, Support Manager for Astera, discusses efficiency tricks geared for rental companies, color spaces, firmware updates, the use of stereo pins, warehousing, and wireless control protocols in their ecosystem, including Bluetooth pairing, radio PIN, and master PIN. Thor explains the importance of using different radio pins for multiple setups within range of each other, as using the same PIN can lead to problems when multiple setups are within range. The app transfers new firmware updates to the lights in the background.

Ratpac Dimmer Service Overview. Anthony Bernal, Service Technician at Ratpac, gives a detailed technical walk through of single-phase and three-phase dimmers, the power flow internally, the location of test points and their voltage, and points of possible failure during rentals. Anthony uses the 10-by-1.2-inch to demonstrate.

Fiilex Product Overview, Troubleshooting, Tips and Tricks. Brent Siebenaler, Fiilex Brand Representative, discusses Fiilex history and products including their tunable white light series and the RGBW matrix. After detailing the control interface, he covers firmware updating, wireless, DMX plots and mapping, troubleshooting, and tips and tricks. Fixtures include the G3 color and Q5 color, as well as the Quad Color, Matrix Color, and MotoQuad. 

Chimera Product Overview and Demonstrations. John Fuller, Director of Sales and Marketing, and Heather Doran, Marketing Communications Director, give product overview and product demonstrations. They discuss the wide range of supported fixtures, including strobes, speed lights, and large 24-kilowatt lights. Chimera offers two broad categories of light banks plus tech banks for current led fixtures and pop banks for specific fixtures. The company makes panel frames, speed rings, and panel frames to hold textiles in various sizes.

Arri HMI Service and Work Practices. In this 45-minute presentation, Brian Doran, Product Specialist, Lighting, at ARRI discusses technical details about fixtures, best practices, service questions, troubleshooting, prep, and equipment inspection. Brian highlights service and work practices to avoid equipment burn-out and prolong the service life of the equipment. 

Camera and Lenses

ARRI Hi-5 Ecosystem. Michael Best, Project Specialist for Pro Camera Accessories (PCS at ARRI), details the Hi-5 ecosystem—Arri’s stronger, faster, 5th-generation intelligent hand unit the Hi-5 follow focus, RIA-1 (radio interface adaptor), modular radios, the app, ZMU-4, and OCU-1.

ARRI Impression Filters – Vintage Effects for Signature Lenses. Chase Hagen, Technical Sales Rep for camera systems at ARRI describes ARRI’s new Impression filters. Signature zoom and prime lenses have a magnetic rear interface to mount back-of-lens filters designed around the high dynamic range and the Alexa 35. He describes compatibility, filter strength and types that create “gritty” or “glamorous” looks, with lots and lots of examples of images created with the filters. He addresses issues like focus shift, how the T-stop effects the filter strength, focusing for contrast vs edges, and myriad other helpful technical questions.

Chrosziel/Denz. Chrosziel Lens Projector and Denz Lens Testing Products. Michael Burnam, International Sales Rep for Chrosziel, performs a tour of the Chrosziel TP72 Large Format Projector and demonstrates lens testing products from Denz.

CORE SWX. Battery Maintenance, Repairs, and Good Work Practices. Battery Maintenance, Repairs, and Good Work Practices. Joe DeJulius, Technical Marketing, and Joe Teodosio, Chief Technical Officer, cover battery maintenance and battery care (especially during down times). They cover battery repairs, and Joe DeJulius describes how the Helix Max Series make life easier for rental companies and supplies great flexibility for customers.

Zeiss Tour. David Warner, Cinema Lens Specialist at Zeiss Cinema, gives a tour of Zeiss’ unique demo space—half clubhouse, half lab, a place for techs to come and perform tests, and screen footage, and talk optics. David describes the new camera tracking merger. He answers questions about Zeiss training, Ncam, lens metadata, updating lens firmware, and more.