What is capture mode

Capture mode controls your camera’s sensor settings. If you’re using a modular camera, you can connect different sensor units, such as a 4K indoor compact standard sensor or an extremely discreet pinhole sensor. After you connect a sensor unit, you might want to change the capture mode to match the resolution and features to your sensor and environment.

You’ll get the best image quality when your camera is in a well-lit environment. For more tips, see Lighting for network video. Sometimes, though, you can’t avoid scenes with both very bright and very dark areas, such as:

• Entrance doors with daylight outside and a darker indoor space
• Parking garages or tunnels, with daylight outside and low light levels indoors
• Outdoor scenes with direct sunlight and shadows
• Office buildings or shopping malls with lots of reflected light from windows

In these situations, Wide dynamic range (WDR) can help your camera capture more detail in both bright and dark areas. WDR is available only on products where ImageSource.I0.Sensor.WDR exists. To check if your camera supports it, see the Imaging API. If ImageSource.I0.Sensor.WDR is off, the safest way to enable it is by changing the capture mode. This also adjusts other sensor settings for you.

To learn more, see the capture mode API and How-to Configure capture mode. Remember, you need to reboot your camera before a new capture mode takes effect.

If you’re not sure which capture mode to choose, start with the default and adjust as needed. You can always change it later to get the best results for your setup.