As far as I know, the camera and laptop need to be connected to the same WiFi Network in order to access it by IP. If it's a network IP camera, then plug a cable from camera to your LAN and use the default IP address. Based on the camera's IP, Windows will assign an IP to your computer as well.
Download and install Angry IP Scanner using the following link: http://angryip.org/
It will scan and show the IP address of the whole subnetwork including the one used by the camera, then you can use the browser or your favorite application to connect.
