Video Bitrate and Storage Calculator.

Work out how much card and drive space a shoot needs. Includes RED REDCODE and the R3D NE format in the Nikon ZR.

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Calculate How to read it

Calculator

How much space will it take?

Choose your camera and format, then say how long you will shoot.

Camera and format

Format

Quality

Resolution

Frame rate

Data rate

Per minute

Per hour

Card speed

How much will you shoot?

Recording time

Unit

Cameras

Copies

Recording time per card

Numbers use decimal units (1 GB = 1,000 MB), as cards and drives are sold. Formatting takes a little off the usable space.

How to read it

Where the numbers come from.

Cameras

Published figures first.

Nikon ZR, Sony, Canon, Panasonic and Fujifilm rates come from the makers’ own manuals and specifications. Where a maker only publishes a range or a maximum, the note under the result says so.

RED cameras

REDCODE is a target.

RED publishes data rates for 6K and 8K at 24 frames a second. Other sizes here are worked out from the pixel count, and other frame rates in proportion, so treat them as a close estimate.

Real life

Expect some variation.

RAW and compressed rates change a little with the scene. Plan with a margin of around 10 to 20 per cent for cards and drives.

Forgetting the backup.One card is one copy. Most shoots need the footage on two drives before the card is wiped, so the totals include copies.

Mixing up Mbps and MB/s.Bits are eight times smaller than bytes. A 3,730 Mbps stream is about 466 MB/s, and card speeds are quoted in MB/s.

Buying a card that is too slow.A card needs to sustain the write speed, not just reach it in a burst. The card speed box shows what to look for.

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