The invention discloses an instation optical cable touring system and a touring method. The instation optical cable touring system comprises a handheld mechanism, a mechanical arm, a camera shooting mechanism and a terminal, wherein the handheld mechanism is used for realizing supporting effect, the mechanical arm is mounted on the handheld mechanism, the mechanical arm can output reciprocating motions along multiple directions, the camera shooting mechanism is mounted at the output end of the mechanical arm and moves along with the mechanical arm, and the terminal is connected with the mechanical arm and the camera shooting mechanism and is used for controlling actions of the mechanical arm and the camera shooting mechanism. By virtue of the instation optical cable touring system, the handheld mechanism is operated on the ground when a worker tours an optical cable, and the mechanical arm is controlled to move to a proper position by virtue of the terminal, so that the camera shootingmechanism can shoot image information of the optical cable; and then the image information is displayed on the terminal, so that the worker can view the image information conveniently, not only is touring efficiency improved, but also risks during touring are greatly reduced.