Connecting to a Camera

After cameras are detected by the system, they can be connected to and accessed via a ‘handle’ (of type GEV_CAMERA_HANDLE). GigE Vision makes a distinction between classes of connection. Primary control connections and secondary control connections are supported.

A connection using the primary control channel to a camera is able to control all aspects of the camera function including its streaming interface and its asynchronous message channel. If this connection is exclusive, no other connections can be made to the camera. If the primary control channel is not being used in an exclusive mode, a secondary control channel can be opened and the camera queried for monitor access. Applications using the secondary control channel can only read from the camera and are used only for monitoring.

The following functions provide a means to create the camera handle for device access. These functions are compatible for use in both C and C++ language application programs.

Note: In all cases, the camera device and the NIC card must share the same IP subnet mask.