Cannot use NI-IMAQdx driver with USB 3 Camera

[aroberts]

I have a WIN7 64-bit system that I would like to use with two USB 3 Vision cameras (both are The Imaging Source DFK 24UJ003), one of which works fine with the IC Capture software. The other camera can be opened with IC Capture but will only show up with a frame rate of 1fps, no matter what size I set it to.

I can open them in Measurement and Automation Explorer, but they do not show up under NI-IMAQdx in the tree.  When I click on Software in the MAX tree below, NI-IMAQdx does show up  as being installed (14.5). The camera (and NI) instructions say to change the camera driver to one found in C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI-IMAQdx\Staging\NI USB3 Vision, but my driver is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\NI-IMAQdx\Staging\NI USB3 Vision.

Attempts to install the driver pop up the following message:

"The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device.  If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64-based systems."

This makes it sound like the driver is in the wrong place or it is not made for a 64-bit OS.  Any advice on how to switch them over from the TIS drivers to the NI-IMAQdx drivers and also how to increase the frame rate of the second camera would be very much appreciated.

I have tried plugging in the cameras individually, and they both have the same performance as when they are plugged in together (one has the correct frame rate, and the other has only 1 fps).

[BlueCheese · Accepted solution]

Are you sure that camera is USB3 Vision compatible? Nothing I can find in the marketing material states it is compatible. Is it possible you need a firmware update to make it compatible?

The installer put the IMAQdx driver in the expected location for an x64-based system and it always puts the correct bitness of driver down for the system you installed. My hunch is that the camera is not exposing a USB3 Vision interface for the driver to bind to.

[aroberts]

Thanks for your reply, I had not realized that not all USB 3.0 cameras are compatible with NI Vision products. I'll look out for that the next time I purchase cameras. In the meantime, I found that the issue with the frame rate was caused by a different problem, so it's fixed now.