GigE PoE vs USB3 camera variants: pick by model number

You configure a camera family, and the listing will not sit still: the photo shows one connector, the spec table another. Nothing is wrong. The same sensor ships as separate interface variants — a GigE PoE part and a USB3 part — and you order exactly one of them. This guide shows how to read the interface out of the model code, how much data each interface actually moves, what PoE does for your wiring, and how far each cable runs. Two numbers decide it, link bandwidth and cable length; work them and the choice stops being a coin flip. Both variants sit in our area scan cameras as separate catalog lines.

Are GigE PoE and USB3 two variants, or two interfaces on one camera?

They are two variants: a camera family ships the same sensor in separate interface parts, the model code pins exactly one interface, and a GigE PoE camera and its USB3 twin are different orderable units — no single unit carries both.

The interface lives on the bridge silicon between sensor and connector and is fixed at manufacture; firmware updates change features, never the physical link. That is why a family photo can show the other variant's connector: stores share photography across a family. The spec field and the model code are the contract; the photo is decoration. Our catalog makes the split explicit — the LS-CMR series lists a 12 MP GigE part and a 12 MP USB3 part built on the same IMX226 sensor.

How do you tell which interface a model number orders?

Read the interface field in the model code or spec table, not the listing photo: the connector drawing is shared across the family, while the code — for example GigE or USB3 in our catalog titles — is what you actually order.

Three checks, in order of reliability:

1. The model code. Makers encode the interface as a letter block inside the part number, and the sensor code stays constant across variants; in our catalog the interface also leads the product title.
2. The spec filter. The camera finder filters by Interface — GigE, USB3, 10GigE, CoaXPress — so a search returns only the variants that order that link.
3. The connector. An RJ45 jack means GigE or 10GigE; a USB-B or USB-C port means USB3. Use this check last, because photos repeat across a family.

How much data can each interface move?

GigE moves about 110-120 MB/s of image data in practice and USB3 about 350-400 MB/s on a desktop host, so anything above roughly 120 MB/s — say 10 fps of 12 MP 8-bit data — needs USB3 or a faster link.

Plan against the practical number and commissioning holds no surprises. When even USB3 runs short, the same arithmetic moves you up the catalog: 10GigE moves about 1000 MB/s and a CXP-12 link carries 1562 MB/s on the wire. The MV-CH250-25TC-F-NF is a 25 MP 10GigE camera, and the MV-CH250-90YC-M58S-NN runs the same 25 MP class on CoaXPress CXP-12. The full trade from Camera Link to USB3 is ranked in machine vision camera interfaces compared, from Camera Link to USB3.

The 20 MP IMX183 shows the same split, and the suffix also pins color vs mono:

All 2 share: Sensor type CMOS, rolling shutter; Sensor model Sony® IMX183; Pixel size 2.4 μm × 2.4 μm; Sensor size 1"; Resolution 5472 × 3648; SNR 41.5 dB; Gain 0 dB to 24 dB; Binning Supports 1 × 1, 2 × 2, 4 × 4. Values as printed in each product's data sheet; open a part for its drawing and full specifications.

A 20 MP 8-bit frame is about 5472 × 3648 × 1 B ≈ 20 MB, so one GigE link gives 120 ÷ 20 = 6 fps and USB3 gives 350 ÷ 20 ≈ 17 fps — order by where your fps lands, not by the biggest number on the page.

What does a 12 MP sensor at 30 fps need?

A 4000 × 3000 8-bit frame is 12 MB, so 30 fps needs 12 × 30 = 360 MB/s — beyond GigE, comfortably inside USB3, which is why the same 12 MP IMX226 sensor ships at 30 fps on USB3 and 9 fps on GigE.

Work it from the catalog pair. The LS-CMR-0166 is the 12 MP USB3 variant: IMX226, rolling shutter, rated 30 fps at 4000 × 3000.

• Pixels per frame: 4000 × 3000 = 12,000,000 px
• Bytes per frame: 12,000,000 px × 1 B = 12 MB
• Required link rate: 12 MB × 30 fps = 360 MB/s

A GigE link carries 110-120 MB/s, so a full-frame GigE twin tops out at 120 ÷ 12 ≈ 10 fps. The LS-CMR-0053 is the 12 MP GigE variant of the same IMX226 sensor and is rated 9 fps — the spec sheet and the arithmetic agree, which is the check worth running before you order.

The pair, side by side:

When does PoE decide the order?

Order the PoE variant when you want power and data in one cable: 802.3af sources up to 15.4 W per port, roughly 13 W reaches the camera, and GigE copper carries the signal 100 m, where no passive USB3 copper cable goes.

The standard is IEEE 802.3af: the switch sources up to 15.4 W per port and cable losses guarantee 12.95 W at the camera end — enough for the sensor and I/O of a standard area scan camera, not for models with cooling stages or heaters. Size the switch from the port side:

The 20% margin covers negotiation overhead and the next camera you will add. A non-PoE switch with a midspan injector does the same job, and the variant you order is still the GigE PoE part. USB3 has no equivalent: a USB 3.0 port supplies 5 V × 0.9 A = 4.5 W, so compact USB3 cameras run from the bus while larger boards take a second lead from a 12 / 24 / 48 V supply. Whether a specific camera takes PoE at all is a port-level check, walked through in does my camera support PoE.

How long can the cable run be?

Plan on 100 m per GigE run (one 100BASE-TX segment), about 3 m for a passive USB3 copper cable, and up to 10 m with an active optical USB3 cable that keeps the full 5 Gbps rate.

GigE rides standard Ethernet physics: one Cat 5e or Cat 6 segment reaches 100 m at full rate, and a fiber media converter stretches a run further if the cell is bigger. That is why long cells, outdoor gates and multi-line plants default to GigE.

USB3 copper is short-reach. Past about 3 m, hosts see retraining, timeouts or a silent fall back to USB 2.0 speed. Two fixes:

• Keep the host close. Mount the PC within 3 m and let the machine network carry distance instead.
• Go active optical. A fiber USB3 extension carries the full 5 Gbps over 10 m; the camera still orders as a USB3 variant.

On embedded boards a marginal link enumerates at the lower speed, and USB3 cameras falling back on embedded hosts shows the diagnosis. Pick cable build by motion, not just length: the camera data cables shelf separates drag-chain, high-flex and standard runs. Length and data-rate interaction is worked through in USB-C cable timeouts on a USB3 camera and for multi-camera cells in multiple USB3 cameras on long cables.

What must the host deliver before you order?

The host decides whether the variant works: a GigE camera needs a NIC port that does not share its 1 Gb/s with other traffic, and a USB3 camera needs a controller port that carries about 350-400 MB/s without hubs in the path.

GigE side. Two cameras on one port halve the ceiling; the budget math is in two GigE cameras on one host. Turn on jumbo frames (a 9000-byte MTU) to cut interrupt load. When frames vanish mid-run, the receive buffer is the usual suspect, and the GigE camera buffer overflow walkthrough shows what the failure looks like in the log before the fix.

USB3 side. One camera per root controller at full rate; a hub in the path divides it. Enumeration alone is not proof — a device that fell back to USB 2.0 still lists itself as a camera, at 60 MB/s instead of 350. Where acquisition software loads its own driver, conflicts show up as a camera that appears but will not stream; USB3 camera driver conflicts in acquisition software is the worked example.

Which variant should you order?

Order the GigE PoE variant for runs over about 3 m, one-cable power and rates under roughly 120 MB/s; order USB3 within 3 m when the sensor needs more — 12 MP at 30 fps takes 360 MB/s and only USB3 delivers it.

Three ordering mistakes this table prevents:

• Budgeting 125 MB/s for GigE. That is the wire rate; protocol overhead leaves 110-120, and a camera rated just under it will drop frames at commissioning.
• Trusting the photo's connector. Family photography repeats across variants; the model code orders the link.
• Sizing the PoE budget from the camera's draw. The switch reserves up to 15.4 W per port whatever the camera pulls.

If the sensor outruns USB3, most reliable camera interface: GigE, USB3, Camera Link or CoaXPress ranks the faster options and their failure modes. Set the variant, then let the configurator match cable, trigger and power to the host you picked:

Trigger wiring, multi-camera bandwidth and IP set-up live in the systems guides.