Working with images

Save an image

To save an image, do the following:

  1. On the Mode selection menu, select Camera.

  2. To save an image, push the Record button.

    Note

    Depending on the settings in Settings > Save options & storage, the following may happen:

    • A preview image is displayed before the image is saved.

    • An annotation tool or the Annotation menu is displayed when the image has been saved.

Preview an image

You can preview an image before you save it. This allows you to see if the image contains the information you want before you save it. You can also adjust and edit the image.

Note

Preview is enabled by a setting. On the Settings menu, select Save options & storage > Preview image before saving.

  1. On the Mode selection menu, select Camera.

  2. To preview an image, push the Record button.

  3. Manual adjustment mode is now active. For image adjustment instructions, see section Thermal image adjustment.

  4. To edit the image, push the joystick or tap the screen. This displays a toolbar, where you can add a measurement tool and change the global parameters, image mode, and color palette.

  5. Do one of the following:

    • To save the image, push the Record button.

    • To exit without saving, push the Back button.

Annotate an image

You can save additional information with an image by using annotations. Annotations make reporting and post-processing more efficient by providing essential information about the image, e.g., conditions and information about where an image is taken.

Annotations are added to the image file and can be viewed and edited in the camera or in a FLIR Thermography software.

  • You can set the camera to display annotation tools when an image is saved. On the Settings menu, select Save options & storage > Add annotation after saving.

  • You can also add annotations to a saved image in the image archive.

To add an annotation to a saved image, do the following:

  1. Open the image in the Gallery.

  2. Push the joystick or tap the screen. This displays the top toolbar.

  3. On the top toolbar, select . This displays the right toolbar.

  4. On the right toolbar, do one of the following:

    • Select to add a text note. This displays a soft keyboard, where you can enter text by touching the screen.

    • Select to add a text table. This displays a table.

      1. (Optional step.) On the top toolbar, do one of the following:

        • Select to clear the content of the current table.

        • Select to select another table template.

      2. For each row in the table, do the following:

        • Push the joystick. This displays the predefined values.

        • Push the joystick up/down to select a predefined value. Push the joystick to confirm.

        • Instead of selecting a predefined value, you can select the keyboard icon and enter other text by touching the screen.

          Note

          Text entered by the keyboard will be saved to the text comment table template. Next time you add a text comment table annotation, the entered text will be displayed as a predefined value.

    • Select to add a voice annotation. This displays a toolbar.

      On the toolbar, do the following:

      • Select Record to start the recording.

      • Select Stop to stop the recording.

      • Select Play to listen to the recording.

      • Select Delete to delete the recording.

      Note

      To record a voice annotation, you need a Bluetooth headset. See section Voice annotation.

    • Select to add a sketch.

      1. You are now in sketch mode. Draw the sketch by touching the screen.

      2. (Optional step.) Push the joystick. This displays a toolbar, where you can do the following:

        • Select Draw to change the color of the sketch tools.

        • Select Eraser to erase parts of the sketch by touching the screen.

        • Select Stamp sketch to add an arrow, circle, or cross. The selected stamp is displayed in the center of the screen. You can move the stamp by using the joystick or by touching the screen.

        • Select Clear all to clear all sketches.

Text comment table

You can save a table with textual information to the image file. This feature is a very efficient way of recording information when you are inspecting a large number of similar objects. The idea behind using a table with textual information is to avoid filling out forms or inspection protocols manually.

The camera ships with an example text comment table template. You can also create your own templates.

Creating a text comment table template

You can create a text comment file manually. You can also create a text comment file using a FLIR Thermography software.

Manually creating a table template

A text comment file (*.tcf) is an annotation format that is proprietary to FLIR Systems. It defines a table structure that can be used to add text table annotations to FLIR images. You can create text comment files (*.tcf files) and use these files as table templates in the camera.

The camera ships with an example text comment table file: example_text_comment.tcf. The file is stored on the memory card in the subfolder \TextTableTemplates. You can make a copy of the example file and modify it using a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad.

When creating or modifying a text comment file, keep the following rules in mind:

  1. Lines starting with “#” are regarded as comments and will be ignored.

  2. Lines that start with “<” and end with “>” are labels and will appear on the left-hand side of the table.

  3. Non-empty lines under a label line are regarded as values and will be displayed as options to the label above.

  4. When you save the file, select UTF-8 encoding. With UTF-8 encoding, the file will support all languages currently supported by the camera.

  5. The template will be updated by the camera if you add or remove values in the text table annotations dialog in the camera. This enables you to modify its content while you are working with the camera.

  6. The camera will find all text table template files if:

    • They are placed on the memory card in the subfolder \TextTableTemplates.

    • They have an ASCII filename and the file extension .tcf. (ASCII characters include a–z, A–Z, 0–9, and basic punctuation, and spaces can be used. The file can contain non-ASCII text, but the filename must be ASCII.)

Example mark-up structure

The file format for the text comment table template is *.tcf. This code sample is an example mark-up structure of such a file, and shows how the mark-up appears in a text editor such as Notepad.

<Site>
Company A
Company B
<Location>
Substation A
<Object>
Engine
Vent
Vault
Door
<ObjectID>
A1a1
A1b2
A1c3
<Deviation>
Overload
Moisture
Draft
<Remedy>
Replace
Fix
No action
<Severity>
Critical
Non-critical
<Severity>

Voice annotation

A voice annotation is an audio recording that is saved to the infrared image file. The recording can be played back in the camera, and in image analysis and reporting software from FLIR Systems.

The voice annotation is recorded using a Bluetooth headset. For information on how to pair a headset with the camera, see section Bluetooth.

About image files

When you save an image, the camera stores the image file on the memory card.

Note

Empty or use a memory card that has not previously been used in another type of camera. The cameras may organize files differently on the memory card. There is therefore a risk of losing data if the same memory card is used in different types of cameras.

File-naming convention

The default naming convention for image files is FLIRxxxx, where xxxx is an incremental counter.

It is also possible to save images with a date prefix added to the filename. However, these files may not automatically be detected by third-party applications. For more information, see section Save options & storage.

Resetting the image counter

Note

To prevent image files being overwritten, the new counter value will be based on the highest existing filename number in the image archive. To ensure that the counter is reset to 0001, insert an empty memory card before resetting the counter.

To reset the numbering of the image filenames, select Settings > Device settings > Reset options > Reset image counter.... This displays a dialog box where you can select to reset the counter.

Image files

The camera saves an image file that includes all thermal and visual information. This means that you can open an image file at a later time and, for example, change the color palette, apply another image mode, and add measurement tools.

The image *.jpg file is fully radiometric and saved lossless, which enables full post-processing in image analysis and reporting software from FLIR Systems. There is also a regular *.jpg component (lossy) for convenient viewing in non-FLIR Systems software.

Note

  • An image saved in HSM mode does not include all thermal information, meaning that you can only change the color palette in post-processing.

  • The camera can also be configured to save an extra low-resolution visual image as a separate file. This can be convenient if you are not using a post-processing software. Select Settings > Save options & storage > Photo as separate JPEG.

  • When the Digital camera image mode is selected, a high-resolution digital image is stored when an image is saved. However, no thermal information is stored.