IMAGE DEVICE

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record image data onto a recording medium efficiently and to shorten the time for recording/reproduction by compressing image data only in an area designated by an area designation means and writing the compressed data on the recording medium. SOLUTION: A control section 3 receives continuously image data resulting from image signals from a camera control section 2 and writes the data to a frame memory 6. On the other hand, when any image area among 3 stages of image areas is selected by an area designation section 4, the area designation section 4 gives an area signal indicating a size of the designated image area to the control section 3. The control section 3 receiving the signal reads image data designated in a designated image area among image data written in the frame memory 6 and transfers the read image data to a compression section 5. Then the compression section 5 compresses the image data at a prescribed compression rate and writes the compressed image data on recording medium section 9.