Frequently Asked Questions

To estimate customs, duties and taxes in your country, use this calculator, or contact your local customs office for more detailed information.

If you communicate with us and let us know that a job is likely, we can plan to have your unit ready in advance, and the dispatch time will often be much shorter.

Once shipped, our couriers will generally deliver within 3-5 business days. We can take no responsibility over how long it may take for photoSentinel equipment to pass through local customs, so please contact your local customs office for further information.

• 4G controller and camera cables (camera interfacing intervalometer)
• Choice of 64GB or 500GB industrial-SSD storage
• Weatherproof housing with visor, IP66 rated
• Housing mounting plate (pan, tilt & yaw)
• Pole mounting brackets, clamps and bolts
• 20W solar panel

Included software:

• Cloud services plans (to remotely configure, monitor, and manage your photoSentinel units, and upload, store and display your photos). Charges apply; see our Cloud Services page.

Optional hardware add-ons:

• Canon and Nikon cameras (enquire for pricing)
• Canon, Nikon, Sigma and Tokina lenses (enquire for pricing)
• Indoor AC power supply
• Outdoor weatherproof AC power supply
• External battery box (battery not included)
• Additional 20W solar panel w/ dual panel cable
• Wi-fi adaptor kit (assembly required)
• AT&T SIM card and data plan (US customers only)

Optional software add-ons:

• Secure Custom Domain service (to host a photo gallery on your own domain)
• Additional photo forwarding locations (we provide uploads to one location of your choice, free of charge)
• AI Timelapse Composer (includes advanced photo filtering and editing, with on-demand and scheduled video generation)

You will also need a mobile data plan for the photoSentinel camera to connect to the internet to upload photos and status updates. For US customers we offer an AT&T SIM card and data plan; users from all other countries will need to source your own mobile data plan from a local provider.

We offer optional extras which may incur additional costs:

• Forwarding of photos to one third-party storage service (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, et al) is included in your base Cloud Services plan. Purchase data blocks to forward photos to additional locations. See the Cloud Services page.

photoSentinel can be configured to alert you by email and/or SMS when your camera behaves irregularly or reaches a threshold (e.g. your storage space is almost full, or the voltage to your unit has dropped unexpectedly). You can use these alerts to troubleshoot or submit a ticket to our Support team.

We also have a Knowledge Base that is updated regularly.

You will select your Cloud Services plan when you first activate your equipment inside the photoSentinel online portal, Control Hub.

You don’t need to have decided on a Cloud Service plan prior to purchasing your equipment.

Visit our Cloud Services page for more information.

No. In order to upload and share your photos you will need to configure your hardware with our online portal, Control Hub, included as part of every Cloud Services plan.

• Access to our expert technical support team, based in Australia and Dubai.
• Access to Control Hub, your administration and configuration portal.
• Access to your own Project Homepage and Photo Gallery, where you can showcase your photos to stakeholders and clients.

For a comprehensive look at all the great features included with our plans, head to our Cloud Services page.

1. You can setup and configure your photoSentinel camera via our web application.
2. Your photoSentinel camera captures the photos.
3. The photoSentinel controller connects into our server to upload photos and status logs. It downloads any new configuration settings.
4. The photos uploaded to our server are then displayed on your photo gallery.
5. The photos are forwarded to any photo forwarding locations (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, et al.) you have set up.

For more information, visit our Scheduling page.

Cloud Services is a pre-paid subscription service, requiring registration with a credit card.

For the first part-month of your subscription for an installation you will be billed pro-rata, after which charges are debited from your credit card at the start of each month until the job is concluded.

No! photoSentinel gives you full control over when you are billed for Cloud Services. You can conclude an installation at any time, which will also conclude your Cloud Services plan billing at the end of your current cycle.

When you've finished shooting, you can stop your Cloud Services subscription by concluding an installation.

Then, when you're ready to deploy the equipment on another job, you can can activate a new Cloud Services subscription by creating a new installation.

US CUSTOMERS ONLY: AT&T data plans must be deactivated separately. If you would like to deactivate an AT&T data plan, please contact Support.

The Cloud Service plans are designed to be used across a whole job. For this reason, you can upgrade your plan at any time, but you cannot downgrade.

If you want to create a one-off timelapse video, you can use the on-demand AI Timelapse Composer; there is no need to upgrade your plan to do so.

For most jobs, the included total photo upload limits will be more than enough.

However, you should do your own calculations, based on your unique job requirements, so you can budget accurately.

You can use our Data Calculator to estimate your monthly and total data uploads.

We're glad you asked, because we love showing off the power of our AI-driven timel apse generator!

Check out the 'Man vs Machine' video on our AI Time Lapse Composer page, and see if you can tell the difference between the manually edited sequence, and the one produced by the AI.

Using Low Power Mode*, the Tempo can shoot and save as fast as every 10 seconds with batch photo upload sessions through out the day, or every 1 minute with immediate photo upload.

*Low Power Mode is not available with all DSLRs. Some DSLRs may allow for faster than ten second intervals. If you wish to frequently shoot fast intervals, chat with our team to discuss your options.

At the end of the fast-shoot, you can either collect the images from the unit manually, or set the system to upload them in batches.

Maximum speeds are only possible provided:

• Photo uploads are performed after a shooting session (for 10 second intervals).
• The unit has sufficient on-board storage space (if batch uploading photos).
• The unit has a sufficient data plan and time to upload the large volume of photos per day.
• The unit has a stable power supply for continuous activity, whether solar or AC.

As a general guide, for a long-term timelapse lasting more than 6 months, one photo every 10-30 minutes will provide more than enough images to produce a final video of reasonable length.

For a more in-depth discussion on intervals, see our article on the topic.

Timelapse cameras are used for monitoring of planned construction activity, project management reporting, progress tracking, and marketing material. They are designed to capture high quality images at regular intervals over the period of activity. These are used to create high resolution timelapse videos, marketing assets, or to allow users to zoom in and view construction activity for project management purposes.

1. Images taken with the photoSentinel Tempo are stored locally on the SSD.
2. Images uploaded are stored on our servers to display on your photo gallery.
3. If configured, photos are forwarded to additional locations, e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, your own FTP server, etc.

• Images can be viewed at online using the web gallery.
• Users can download images from the gallery, if configured to allow high resolution downloads.
• Images can be forwarded to a photo forwarding location, such as Dropbox. From there you can easily download your photos or transfer them to other devices.
• For units with limited internet connectivity, photos can be saved to the on-board SSD. An on-site visit is then required to copy and delete the photos from the drive before they reach their storage limit.
• For units shooting in RAW format or fast intervals, photos can be saved to the on-board SSD. An on-site visit is then required to copy and delete the photos from the drive before they reach their storage limit.

• Dropbox
• Google Drive
• OneDrive
• Amazon S3
• FTP

There is no way to bypass the photoSentinel server, however we can forward photos to your FTP server in addition to the photoSentinel server.

• Aconex (beta)
• Acuite

If your job requires offline functionality, we recommend the Cyclapse Pro from our partner brand, Harbortronics.

If you are planning to use 3G, we recommend checking with your network provider for their 3G network shut down dates.

Contact us to discuss prices for available cameras and lenses.

Please check our compatible cameras list on the Technical Specifications page for the current supported cameras.

Cameras not listed above might function with the Tempo controller, however they have not been tested or have failed compatibility tests.

Contact us to discuss your requirements if you would like to use an unsupported camera.

The regular Tempo housing is designed for APS-C cameras and will not accommodate all full-frame camera and lens combinations. If you do wish to use a full frame camera, contact us for more information about our larger ‘Beast’ housing.

Contact us to discuss your project requirements.

With any zoom lens, we recommend you tape the zoom ring into position to ensure it doesn’t subtly shift mid-project.

• A 10mm wide-angle lens will fit when using an APS-C sensor.
• A 10mm wide-angle lens will have window edges in view when using a full frame sensor.
• If using a fisheye lens, there will be significant obstruction.

If you would like to use full frame or a fisheye lens, we recommend using our larger ‘Beast’ housing.

Before shooting in RAW, consider that RAW files are typically 20MB+ per file, and therefore will be much more expensive to upload on a metered data plan, and there will be additional Cloud Services costs once you hit your upload limit. We recommend storing the RAW files locally on an SSD that can be manually copied from or swapped out, whilst uploading the JPEG files to display to clients. Alternatively, the optional add-on ethernet cable can be used to transfer via LAN and avoid high 4G data costs.

If you wish to purchase just a long-term timelapse controller, we recommend the DigiSnap Pro from our partners at Harbortronics.

If your unit is returned for warranty and a non-genuine part is determined to be the cause, shipping and repair costs will be charged.

The photoSentinel Tempo comes with the option of a 64GB or 500GB industrial-SSD.

If you do not have a pole or similar available, we recommend Australian suppliers EZYpole, and Surefoot.

For more advice about mounting, contact us to discuss your job requirements.