Troubleshooting
Why a camera shows a still image or no image at all
Most public cameras are snapshots that refresh every few seconds, not video. Here is how to tell a snapshot from a stream, and the usual reasons a camera goes dark.
Updated 22 September 2026 · 3 min read
Open a few cameras and you will notice that some move and some do not. That is usually not a fault. Most public cameras — road cameras especially — publish a snapshot: one still photograph that the operator replaces every few seconds to every few minutes.
Snapshot or stream?
- Snapshot. A single image. opencam asks for a fresh one on a timer, so the picture jumps forward rather than playing. Many road agencies choose this because it costs far less bandwidth than video.
- Stream. Continuous video, usually HLS. It plays like any online video and may take a second or two to start.
- Clip. A short looping video the operator records every few minutes, common on some Canadian networks.
The usual reasons a camera is dark
- The operator turned it off. Agencies disable cameras for maintenance, during incidents, or at night where there is nothing to see.
- The camera moved. Pan-tilt cameras are often turned away or parked facing a wall while an operator uses them.
- The operator’s server is busy or down. Every picture is fetched from the camera’s own server, so its outage is your blank tile. Try again in a few minutes.
- The image is the same for a long time. Some snapshots update only every five or ten minutes. Check the time in the image, if it has one.
A camera that is always dark usually means the operator has retired it. The catalogue is rebuilt regularly, so retired cameras drop off the map on their own.
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