How to copy DC data to an array

I am working on a program that gets the pixel values form a image ans puts them into a multi-dimensioned array.

I have tried using GetPixel/Setpixel but they are slow for large images. the Image is loading into a DC.

Is there a faster method of copying the image data from a DC to an array?

Or if thats not possible, how do you return the memory pointer to the first item of the actual image array that the DC uses?