Upgrades
Upgrading the Bambu Lab camera
The stock camera is adequate for a timelapse and close to useless for watching a print. Whether that matters depends on one honest question.
By Michael W. · Published October 5, 2026
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Ask this before buying anything
Will you actually watch it?
Most people who buy a camera upgrade watch the stream enthusiastically for a week and then never open it again. If that is you, the honest purchase is nothing, and the money is better spent on a dryer or a second plate.
If you genuinely monitor long prints — because the printer is in a garage, or because you run jobs while out — then the stock camera's limitations are a real cost and a high-fps upgrade addresses them.
What is actually wrong with the stock camera
It is built for a timelapse rather than for monitoring. The practical consequences:
- Low frame rate. You get a slideshow rather than video, which makes it hard to see a failure developing as opposed to noticing one that has already happened.
- Fixed position and field of view. It sees what it sees. On a large part it may not see the area you are worried about.
- Limited use for first-layer checking, which is the moment monitoring would be most valuable — a first-layer failure caught at minute three saves the whole print.
Note what is not on that list: it works, it produces usable timelapses, and for a quick "is it still printing" glance it is adequate.
What a camera upgrade does not do
It does not catch failures for you. A stream only helps if someone is watching it. Lidar first-layer inspection on an X1-Carbon is the feature that actually checks automatically, and no camera upgrade replicates it.
It does not improve print quality. Obvious, and worth stating because the category sits alongside parts that do.
It does not make a printer safe to leave unattended. A flame-retardant enclosure and a smoke alarm do more for that than any camera. Enclosure options.
Options, and what we can and cannot confirm
| Option | What it offers | Confirmed by our sources? |
|---|---|---|
| Panda Lobe | Integrated 5.5-inch touchscreen with high-fps camera streaming | Yes — screen size and high-fps streaming |
| Panda Touch / Touch 5 | Screen only, no camera change | Yes for the original — 5-inch, USB power, 10-printer support |
| A separate network camera pointed at the printer | Any frame rate and angle you like; independent of the printer | Not a Bambu-specific product; no vendor claim to cite |
| Moving the printer somewhere you are | Direct observation, no hardware | Not applicable — but it is free |
The third row is worth taking seriously. An ordinary network camera on a shelf pointed at the printer gives you whatever frame rate and angle you want, is completely independent of printer firmware, and can be moved. It is the unglamorous answer and frequently the right one.
If the camera is a proxy for something else
Often it is. Two common cases:
"I want to know if a print failed." The highest-value version of this is first-layer checking, and the free version is being in the room for the first five minutes. Most print failures declare themselves in the first layer. First-layer troubleshooting.
"The printer is somewhere I cannot hear it." Then the question is why it is there, and often the answer is noise. If the printer could live in the room with you, you would not need the camera. Noise reduction.
Where to go next
The Panda Touch in detail if the screen is the real complaint. Print quality triage if you are trying to catch a recurring failure rather than watch one. The upgrade roundup for better uses of the same money.
What to buy
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1. Best camera upgrade
BIQU Panda Lobe
High-fps streaming plus a 5.5-inch touchscreen, which fixes the two most-searched P1S complaints together.
An integrated 5.5-inch touchscreen that enables high-fps camera streaming. The frame rate is the point: the stock camera is adequate for a timelapse and the gap between that and watching a print in useful real time is exactly what high-fps closes.
Fixing the screen and the camera with one part is efficient if both bother you, and overkill if only one does.
Verify fitment before ordering. The Panda line is model-specific and spans several generations.
What it gets right
- Solves the two most-searched P1S complaints — no screen and a near-useless stock camera — with one part
- High-fps streaming is the difference between a timelapse and actually watching a print fail
- Larger screen than the original Panda Touch
What it does not
- Verify fitment for your exact printer before ordering; the Panda line is model-specific
- A camera stream is only useful if you will actually look at it
- More third-party hardware in the stack is more to troubleshoot after a firmware update
| Screen | Integrated 5.5-inch touchscreen |
|---|---|
| Camera | Enables high-fps camera streaming |
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2. If the screen is the real complaint
BIQU Panda Touch
A 5-inch screen on the printer's own USB power, with no camera change.
Included to make the distinction clear. If what frustrates you is starting prints from an app, a screen is the fix and the camera is irrelevant.
5-inch touchscreen for the P1P and P1S, fitting the existing screen cutout, powered from the printer's USB port, controlling up to ten machines.
What it gets right
- This is the feature people buy a P2S for, at a fraction of a new printer
- Powered from the printer's own USB port, with a bracket that fits the P1P/P1S screen cutout
- Controlling up to 10 printers from one screen makes it the cheapest print-farm console there is
What it does not
- It is a control surface, not a capability — it changes nothing about print quality
- Third-party firmware sitting between you and the printer can lag behind a Bambu firmware update
- If you genuinely never wanted a screen, skip it; the app does the same job
| Screen | 5-inch touchscreen |
|---|---|
| Fits | Bambu Lab P1P and P1S; also interfaces with X1 and A1 series |
| Power | The printer's built-in USB port |
| Multi-printer | Controls up to 10 Bambu printers from one unit |
| Warranty | Vendor states installation does not void the printer warranty |
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3. The alternative to watching remotely
Bambu Lab A1 mini
If you want to see the print, moving the printer somewhere you are beats any camera.
A genuine alternative worth naming. People buy cameras to watch prints in a room they are not in, and the open-frame A1 mini is quiet enough to live in a room you occupy — no enclosure to resonate and no chamber fan.
Not a camera purchase, and often the better answer to the underlying want.
What it gets right
- The quietest machine in the lineup by a wide margin, because there is no enclosure resonating
- AMS Lite support means four-color printing on the cheapest printer Bambu sells
- Small enough to sit on a desk you also work at
What it does not
- Open frame, so ABS and ASA are off the table without an aftermarket enclosure
- The smallest build area in the range — large single-piece prints need splitting
- No enclosure means no chamber temperature, so warping on anything but PLA and PETG
| Released | September 20, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Type | Open-frame bed slinger |
| Intended use | Printing small objects |
| Multi-color | AMS Lite (4 spools, open air) |
Questions people actually ask
Is the Bambu Lab camera upgrade worth it?
Only if you will actually watch the stream. Most people watch enthusiastically for a week and then never open it again, in which case the money is better spent on a dryer or a second build plate. If the printer lives somewhere you are not and you genuinely monitor long jobs, a high-fps upgrade addresses a real limitation.
What is wrong with the stock Bambu camera?
It is built for timelapses rather than monitoring - a low frame rate, a fixed position and field of view, and limited usefulness for first-layer checking, which is when monitoring would be most valuable. For a quick 'is it still printing' glance it is adequate.
Can I use a regular webcam or network camera instead?
Yes, and it is frequently the right answer. An ordinary network camera on a shelf gives you whatever frame rate and angle you want, is independent of printer firmware, and can be moved. It is the unglamorous option and nothing about the printer prevents it.
Will a camera catch failed prints automatically?
No. A stream only helps if someone is looking at it. Automatic first-layer inspection is a lidar feature on the X1-Carbon rather than something a camera upgrade replicates, and no aftermarket camera on a P-series machine checks prints for you.
Which Bambu camera upgrade fixes the screen too?
The Panda Lobe, which has an integrated 5.5-inch touchscreen and enables high-fps camera streaming - the two most-searched P1S complaints in one part. Verify fitment for your exact printer before ordering, because the Panda line is model-specific.
Sources
- BIQU Panda product range - plates, hotends, fans, extruder parts, storage - with fitment and materials - OpenELAB upgrade guide
- BIQU Panda Touch - 5-inch screen, USB power, P1P/P1S bracket, 10-printer support, warranty statement - BIQU product page
- BigTreeTech Panda accessories on Bambu Lab printers - 3DWithUs
Read this next
- BIQU Panda TouchWhat the Panda Touch adds to a P1P or P1S, the ten-printer capability nobody mentions, and the honest trade of third-party firmware.
- Print quality triageThe central symptom-to-cause table for the whole site, with the two free checks that resolve most problems before any purchase.
- Making a Bambu Lab printer quieterNoise reduction in order of effectiveness: the surface first, damping second, enclosure third - and why the usual order is backwards.
- The best Bambu Lab upgradesUpgrades ranked by the problem each one solves, with the popular ones that fix nothing clearly marked as such.
- When prints will not stick to the plateAdhesion failures in diagnostic order, starting with the free fix that resolves most of them, and the material-specific exceptions.