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Camera selection and connecting to Teleport
Choosing an IP camera - Recommendations
Choosing an IP camera - Recommendations

IP cameras are reliable, easy to setup and require no PC or software, here are some cameras we like.

J
Written by John Goode
Updated over a week ago

IP cameras are recommended as they are a self contained, weather-proof package, with good image quality, long-term capture reliability, and ease of setup. Once installed, it is only a matter of minutes to connect an IP camera to Teleport. No other PC or software is required, Teleport will work with the IP camera directly.

Though Teleport works with any standard IP camera, we do offer pre-configured cameras through our store. These cameras are the simplest to setup as they are already paired to your account, just plug in and it records!

Here is some guidance on selecting an IP camera for time-lapse or live streaming with Teleport. Virtually any IP camera will work, but we always recommend using known brands. To name just a few, Axis, Hikvision, Panasonic, Canon, Sony, Samsung, Foscam, Dahua or higher end models from D-Link and the like will work just fine.

If image quality and long-term unattended reliable operation are a priority, going with a known manufacturer is recommended. In general, you get what you pay for, no matter what the marketing or megapixels say. For example, it is possible that a 3 megapixel low end camera will have lower image quality than a 2 megapixel high end model.

AXIS

General use Bullet

General use dome

Panoramic

PTZ cameras

  • PTZ cameras are capable of capturing multiple time-lapse videos or live image streams simultaneously. Simply configure desired preset locations for each stream on the Teleport dashboard.

Axis camera information (Teleport works with all Axis models)

Axis makes reliable, well build IP cameras with great image quality. If 4K resolution is required, we recommend the Axis P1448-LE. For 1440p resolution we recommend the M2036-LE as it offers excellent picture quality for the price point and is 50% sharper than 1080p.

All Axis cameras, including the M10xx will also work very well. Use their product selector to choose based on what’s important: filed of view, indoor/outdoor, WDR, resolution, PTZ. Field of view may be most important, too little and you won't capture everything, too much and you have wasted pixels. For example the M3066 is narrow at 106°, while the M3206 or the M2036-LE are 130°. Choose the field of view that best fits your needs.

Hikvision

Similar to Axis, Hikvision makes very reliable cameras. The new line of HEOP 2.0 enabled cameras now supports our Teleport Station app, which runs onboard the camera. If possible HEOP 2.0 cameras are recommended. For all other Hikvision cameras you have the option of configuring port forwarding or using the onboard FTP function on the camera to talk to Teleport.

Other Manufacturers

Cameras from Dahua, Foscam, Brillcam, Reolik, Ubiquiti and D-Link all work very well. However due to the sheer number of products and because the firmware often changes from model to model, we recommend sticking to the higher end models from these manufacturers. While these manufacturers offer more choice at a lower price point often the overall product is not as polished as for example Axis.

For example Dahua offers some very impressive 12MP or higher cameras that have great image quality and the price is quite a bit lower than for example Axis.

Dahua

D-Link

Foscam

Things to note when picking a camera

  • PoE (Power over Ethernet) cameras are always preferred.

  • Wi-Fi cameras can work, but if reliability is important go for PoE cameras. In general Wi-Fi are slower, can cut out and with the lower end models you may need to physically go to the camera and restart it. You still need to run a power cable to a Wi-Fi camera so it isn't really wireless.

  • With PoE you run only a single Ethernet cable for both signal and power to the camera. The cable is easy to extend with couplers, is weatherproof and can go long distance.

  • Ensure the camera is a true IP camera, some Reolink or Ubiquiti are actually closed products and do not offer interoperability with third party apps or systems.

  • Note that the horizontal field-of-view varies quite a bit for these cameras. Likely you have a specific range you want to capture, choosing the camera that gives the best crop naturally is the most important factor here.

  • Consider getting a wide angle camera (high FOV) with higher resolution, over a PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) camera. This way you can always zoom for detail when required, while the camera stays stationary which makes the resulting time-lapse video much better.

Wiring things up

To connect a PoE camera to the network you will need just one other thing (other than a standard network router or switch) this is either a PoE injector or a PoE enabled network switch/router. This is what injects power into the line which allows you to run the camera using just one wire.

The TP-LINK injectors and routers have proven reliable. The added expense of Axis or other products may not be necessary depending on your needs.

Optionally, if running long network wires up to 100 meters (328 feet), you may want to join wires together, a couple can be used for this:

Solar and 4G/LTE cellular

For solar powered and 4G/LTE installations pair a solar panel kit with any one of these IP cameras.

At this time we can't recommend any of the built-in solar + cellular IP cameras out there, that we've tried. Reliability problems, poor quality or a closed non-interoperable system are the common issues. Let us know what you find! As they either aren't reliable or are a closed system. This will eventually change, and certainly some products out there already do work well, let us know what you find!

Connecting the camera to Teleport

When deciding on a system or camera consider the ways in which Teleport and the camera can connect. This especially matters if a cellular carrier doesn't offer a public IP address as is often the case.

Without a public IP address the only options for Teleport image and time-lapse functionality are:

  • Use a Teleport Station compatible camera

  • Use on camera FTP function

  • ,Deploy Teleport Station on a Windows/Linux PC/Raspberry Pi along with the camera (same local network)

For live video streaming, remote PTZ control, or live video clip the list is shorter:

  • Use a Teleport Station compatible camera

  • ,Deploy Teleport Station on a Windows/Linux PC/Raspberry Pi along with the camera (same local network)

The reason for this is without a public IP address port forwarding is not an option.

If you have any questions please contact us

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