Question 1

What is FogCam?

Accepted Answer

FogCam is the world's oldest continuously operating webcam. It has photographed San Francisco State University since September 30, 1994, and was created by students Jeff Schwartz and Dan Wong. The live camera is at fogcam.org.

Question 2

What is fogcam.org?

Accepted Answer

fogcam.org is the official website of FogCam, the world's oldest continuously operating webcam. Operating at San Francisco State University since September 30, 1994, fogcam.org updates its picture every 20 seconds without saving past images. Fog-Bank (fog-bank.org) captures every frame published by fogcam.org to provide a permanent public archive and backup.

Question 3

Is FogCam still running?

Accepted Answer

Yes. FogCam has operated continuously for 32 years since 1994. You can see the live feed, inspect the newest frames, and scrub complete day timelapses at fog-bank.org, with the original camera hosted at fogcam.org.

Question 4

Is there a FogCam archive?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Fog-Bank (fog-bank.org) is the FogCam archive. It captures every frame FogCam publishes, live, and holds more than 279,000 surviving frames: complete coverage since July 14, 2026, the 126,835-frame rescue of August to October 2019, fragments back to 2005, and 1995 QuickCam photographs. It is an independent project, not affiliated with SFSU.

Question 5

Is there a backup of FogCam?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Fog-Bank (fog-bank.org) is the FogCam backup. Every frame the fog cam publishes is fetched within seconds, sha-256 verified, converted losslessly to JPEG XL and kept in four places: the archive server, a mirror on Cloudflare R2, a 30-day off-site buffer, and a home machine on a separate network, with four independent pollers feeding them. How it works is described at fog-bank.org/backup.

Question 6

Where can I see saved FogCam images?

Accepted Answer

Saved FogCam images are at fog-bank.org. The archive holds more than 279,000 of them going back to 2005, browsable by date at fog-bank.org/archive, and any day can be played back as a timelapse. The live fog cam itself shows only the current picture and keeps no history.

Question 7

Where can I watch FogCam timelapses?

Accepted Answer

Fog-Bank generates hourly and daily timelapses from all archived FogCam frames at fog-bank.org/videos and publishes them to youtube.com/@Fog-Bank.

Question 8

Are there old FogCam photos or pictures online?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Fog-Bank holds FogCam pictures from 2005 through today, including the 126,835 images fans saved during the 2019 shutdown scare and the 1995 QuickCam photographs from Dan Wong's gallery. Every picture is timestamped and can be opened on its own page.

Question 9

How many FogCam frames survive?

Accepted Answer

More than 279,000, all held at fog-bank.org, growing by roughly 1,300 frames a day. FogCam overwrites its single image every 20 to 60 seconds, so of the roughly 44 million frames published since 1994, everything outside the archive is gone.

Question 10

Can I watch old FogCam footage?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Fog-Bank plays any archived day as a timelapse you can scrub frame by frame, at up to 120 frames per second, at fog-bank.org. Every frame is timestamped to the second and sha-256 verified.

Question 11

Why was FogCam almost shut down?

Accepted Answer

In August 2019 its creators announced a shutdown after 25 years. The #SaveTheFogCam campaign followed, and on August 28, 2019 SFSU agreed to take the camera over. Fans saved one month of frames during the scare; those 126,835 frames are now part of the Fog-Bank archive.

FogCam on Thursday, July 27, 2023