FTP to Google Cloud Storage: camera-direct delivery to GCS

Google Cloud Storage (GCS) is Google's object storage service — the infrastructure behind many media pipelines, broadcast workflows, and large-scale digital asset systems built on Google Cloud. ZenTransfer's GCS integration provides a direct path from camera FTP to a GCS bucket, with no laptop or manual upload in the chain.

How it works

Your camera's FTP connects to ZenTransfer's server. ZenTransfer writes each incoming file to the GCS bucket and object prefix you configure, using a service account with write-only access to that bucket. Files appear in GCS within seconds of the camera transmitting them.

Setting up

Step 1: Create a service account in Google Cloud

In the Google Cloud Console, create a service account with the Storage Object Creator role on the specific bucket you want ZenTransfer to write to. Download the JSON key file. This gives ZenTransfer exactly the permissions it needs — write to that bucket — with no access to other GCP resources.

Step 2: Connect GCS in the ZenTransfer dashboard

In your Destinations settings, select Google Cloud Storage. Enter your bucket name, the object prefix (the path within the bucket where files should land), and paste or upload the service account JSON key.

Step 3: Configure FTP on your camera

Enter the ZenTransfer FTP credentials in your camera's network settings. Connect to a phone hotspot or portable 5G device on location.

Use cases

Google Cloud-hosted media pipelines — organisations whose video processing, transcoding, AI labelling, or digital asset management runs on Google Cloud typically use GCS as the shared file store. ZenTransfer provides a camera-to-bucket path into those pipelines.

BigQuery and media analytics — GCS is the standard landing zone for files that will be processed by Google's data and ML services. Photographers delivering to clients who use AutoML Vision, Video Intelligence API, or other GCP services can route files directly from camera to the bucket those services consume.

Archive with Nearline and Coldline storage — GCS Coldline storage costs approximately $0.004/GB/month for data accessed less than once per 90 days, making it a competitive option for long-term photography archives. Lifecycle rules can move objects from Standard to Nearline to Coldline automatically.

Data residency — GCS lets you constrain bucket storage to a specific region (europe-west1, us-east1, etc.) or multi-region (EU, US). For photographers with regional data requirements, choose the bucket location that meets your compliance needs.

GCS vs Google Drive

Both GCS and Google Drive can receive files from ZenTransfer, but they serve different purposes:

• Google Drive is the right choice for client access, sharing, and everyday photographer workflows — it is accessible to anyone with a Google account and intuitive for non-technical clients
• GCS is the right choice when the destination is a technical pipeline, a media system, or a long-term archive where cost-per-gigabyte matters and access is programmatic rather than manual

You can route to both simultaneously via ZenTransfer's multi-destination delivery.