PhotoCamera

The advantage of the PhotoCamera class is that it gives control over the flash and autofocus when capturing images.

PhotoCamera is usually defined as a field in a page or viewmodel and then instantiated when needed. The device camera needs time to ready itself for use and cannot be used until it is initialized, indicated by an Initialized event. Initialization commences when the PhotoCamera is assigned to the source of a VideoBrush, using its SetSource method.

The following example shows how to create and initialize a PhotoCamera using a VideoBrush within a PhoneApplicationPage:

Click here to view code image

PhotoCamera photoCamera;

protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e)
{
    photoCamera = new PhotoCamera();
    photoCamera.Initialized += HandlePhotoCameraInitialized;

    videoBrush_Preview.SetSource(photoCamera);

    base.OnNavigatedTo(e);
}

The Initialized event allows the configuration of the camera. This may include setting the image resolution for captured images, setting the flash mode of the camera, and allowing subscription to the various PhotoCamera events, as demonstrated in the following excerpt:

Click here to view code image

void HandlePhotoCameraInitialized(
        object sender, CameraOperationCompletedEventArgs e)
{
    PhotoCamera camera = (PhotoCamera)sender;
    camera.Resolution = camera.AvailableResolutions.ElementAt(0);

    camera.AutoFocusCompleted += HandleAutoFocusCompleted;
    camera.CaptureCompleted += HandleCaptureCompleted;
    camera.CaptureThumbnailAvailable += HandleCaptureThumbnailAvailable;
    camera.CaptureImageAvailable += HandleCaptureImageAvailable;

    if (camera.IsFlashModeSupported(FlashMode.Auto))
    {
        FlashMode = FlashMode.Auto;
    }
}

Each of the events and the PhotoCamera properties are discussed in greater detail in the following section.