Reliable, continuous and long-term data is needed in order to understand precisely the evolution of a beach system. Because of the advantages of real-time, low cost, simple operation, strong adaptability, high resolution and continuous data, Argus video monitoring system has developed rapidly in recent years, and its research and application fields have gradually expanded. Composition of the Argus system was briefly introduced, and the application of this system in beach research in China was described, and the accuracy of the extracted data was analysed. It was shown that the average vertical and plane distance error is 0.145 m and 11.73 m respectively, which depends on the distance from Argus observatory. Argus system has been widely used in beach research abroad, but it is still in the early stage in China. In the future, it is expected to provide more powerful and perfect technical support in coastal engineering construction evaluation, coastal hydrodynamic monitoring and bathymetry inversion, beach tourism management and research on morphodynamic evolution of estuary sand spits.