Recording

Recording is performed with the camera in Streaming mode (Streaming turned On). With Streaming On, every frame is acquired by the PC at the configured frame rate and can be saved to a file.

Record Mode

Choose the recording method with Record Mode.

Record Mode	Recording method	Stopping	Frame count field	Maximum recordable frame count
Streaming	Writes the acquired images directly to storage such as an SSD.	Stops automatically after the specified number of frames	Record Frames	Determined by the free space on the storage device
Memory	Creates a ring buffer in the PC’s memory and records in a loop. When stopped, the images in the buffer are written to a file.	Continues recording until you click STOP RECORD	Buffer Frames	Determined by the PC’s memory capacity

When to use Memory mode

In Memory mode, the latest images always remain in the buffer, with the oldest images overwritten. If you click STOP RECORD after an event occurs, you can save the Buffer Frames worth of images leading up to that moment. This is useful for capturing events whose timing is unpredictable.

Note

The “Streaming” Record Mode option and the Streaming On/Off switch, which changes the camera’s operating mode, are separate items. Regardless of which Record Mode you use, the Streaming switch must be On.

Tip

Before recording, make sure you have configured the frame rate, shutter speed, and resolution. Capture conditions cannot be changed while Streaming is in progress.

Recording procedure

1. Choose the Record Mode. Click Browse next to Record Path and specify the file to save to.

2. Enter the number of frames.

   • If Record Mode is Streaming: enter the number of frames to record in Record Frames. The number on the right (for example, / 19,654,244 frames) is the maximum number of frames determined by the free space on the storage device.
   • If Record Mode is Memory: enter the number of frames to hold in the ring buffer in Buffer Frames. The number on the right (for example, / 1,186,187 frames) is the maximum number of frames determined by the PC’s memory capacity.

   

3. Turn Streaming On. The RECORD button becomes clickable. The lower left of the screen shows the frame rate actually being acquired (for example, FPS: 999.6).

   

4. Click RECORD to start recording. While recording, the upper right of the screen shows the number of frames recorded and the elapsed time (for example, REC 2615/10000 (2.6s)).

   

5. Finish recording.

   • If Record Mode is Streaming: recording stops automatically once the specified number of frames has been recorded. To stop partway through, click STOP RECORD.
   • If Record Mode is Memory: clicking STOP RECORD ends the recording, and the images in the buffer are written to a file.

6. Once recording is finished, turn Streaming Off to return to live view.

Note

While Streaming is On, capture conditions such as the frame rate and the IP address cannot be changed (they are shown grayed out).

Saved files

Recording creates two files, .cih (capture information) and .mdat (image data), using the name specified in Record Path. If you record again under the same name, the files are saved with a sequential number appended, such as sample_001 and sample_002.

For how to play back a recorded file, see Playback.