Size your media footprint, offload window, and card requirements based on codec, shooting hours, and backup copies.
Camera media planning is not just a question of terabytes. A shoot also needs enough cards in rotation, enough capacity for primary and backup copies, room for proxies and free-space headroom, and an offload workflow fast enough to keep up with production.
The Camera Data Storage Calculator turns codec data rate, runtime ratio, shoot length, copy policy, and transfer speed into a practical plan. It estimates Total Storage Required, Record Time per Card, and Daily Offload Time, plus original footage, proxies, storage per copy, and cards in rotation.
Use Storage needed mode to plan capacity for a shoot. Use the alternate mode to understand record time available on a given media capacity. The calculator sizes storage and time only. It does not estimate archive subscriptions, cloud pricing, or long-term storage cost.
The main drivers are recorded data rate and actual camera rolling time. A 10-hour shooting day does not mean cameras record continuously for 10 hours. Camera Runtime Ratio estimates the share of the day when each camera is rolling.
Rolling seconds per camera per day = Shooting hours × 3,600 × (Runtime ratio / 100)
Camera GB per day = (Data rate × Rolling seconds) ÷ 1,000
The calculator uses decimal gigabytes, where 1 GB equals 1,000 MB, matching the way card and drive manufacturers typically state capacity.
Separate audio is modeled across the full entered shooting day:
Audio GB total = (Audio data rate × Shooting hours × 3,600 × Shoot days) ÷ 1,000
Start with the recording format, then describe the shoot and the media workflow.
Use Codec Preset to select the recording format. The default is ProRes 422 HQ 4K, which sets Data Rate to 88 MB/s. Choose Custom when you know the sustained recorded data rate for the planned camera setting.
Enter Audio Recorder Data Rate for the separate sound recorder, with all channels combined. The default is 0.5 MB/s.
Enter Number of Cameras for cameras recording on the same job. Use Shooting Hours per Day for camera-ready hours excluding the meal break. The default is 10 hours.
Set Camera Runtime Ratio to the percentage of that day the camera is actually recording. The default is 25 percent. This matters because scripted cameras spend substantial time between takes.
Enter Number of Copies for complete media sets. The default is three, representing primary, backup, and archive copies.
Set Proxy Size as a percentage of original media. The default is 8 percent. Set it to zero if no proxies are generated.
Storage per copy = Original footage + Proxy size
Storage before buffer = Storage per copy × Number of copies
Use Free Space Buffer to add headroom so storage is not planned to run completely full.
Total storage required = Storage before buffer × (1 + Free space buffer / 100)
Use Media Capacity per Card for one card or drive in GB. The default is 512 GB.
Enter Transfer Speed as the sustained copy speed of the offload station, not an advertised peak interface speed.
These values determine record time, card rotation, and the daily offload window.
The outputs show both capacity requirements and whether the media workflow can keep up with production.
Original Footage Size combines camera and separate audio across the full shoot. Proxy Size adds the editorial proxy estimate.
Storage per Copy represents one complete original-plus-proxy set. Multiplying that by the number of copies gives storage before free-space buffer. Total Storage Required is the final capacity after the buffer is applied.
Record Time per Card estimates continuous recording time at the selected data rate:
Record time hours = (Card capacity × 1,000) ÷ Data rate ÷ 3,600
It then estimates cards required per camera day after free-space buffer.
Cards per camera per day = CEILING((Camera GB per day × (1 + Buffer / 100)) ÷ Card capacity)
Cards in rotation = Cards per camera per day × Number of cameras
Productions may still require additional media for verification, turnaround, or contingency.
Daily Offload Time estimates how long it takes to copy the day’s original media across the selected number of copies.
Offload hours = (Daily original GB × 1,000 × Number of copies) ÷ Transfer speed ÷ 3,600
The calculator labels daily offload under two hours as Comfortable Offload, two to five hours as Tight Offload Window, and over five hours as Offload Bottleneck.
Actual copy time can vary with media speed, verification, and station configuration.
Consider a 12-day production recording ProRes 422 HQ 4K at 88 MB/s on two cameras. Each day has 10 camera-ready hours, with a 25 percent runtime ratio.
10 × 3,600 × 25% = 9,000 rolling seconds per camera per day
Each camera produces:
88 × 9,000 ÷ 1,000 = 792 GB per day
Across two cameras and 12 days:
792 × 2 × 12 = 19,008 GB of camera data
Separate audio at 0.5 MB/s across the full 10-hour day produces 216 GB over 12 days. Original media totals 19,224 GB.
At an 8 percent proxy allowance, proxies add about 1,538 GB, producing 20,762 GB per copy.
Three copies require 62,286 GB before buffer. Adding 15 percent free-space headroom produces approximately 71,629 GB, or 71.6 TB Total Storage Required.
A 512 GB card at 88 MB/s provides about 1.62 hours of continuous record time. Under the modeled runtime and buffer, the calculator calls for two cards per camera per day, or four Cards in Rotation.
Daily original media is approximately 1,602 GB. At 250 MB/s and three copies, the modeled offload takes about 5.34 hours per day, or 53.4 percent of the shooting day.
That puts the workflow in the Offload Bottleneck range. The immediate constraint is not only storage capacity, but whether the copy workflow can clear the day’s media fast enough.
A project can have enough drive capacity and still run into trouble if cards cannot be cleared and returned quickly enough.
If Daily Offload Time is high, compare faster storage, additional offload stations, earlier copying, or a different copy policy. Any reduction in copy count should still meet production data-protection requirements.
Review Camera Runtime Ratio carefully before buying storage. Setting it to 100 percent assumes continuous recording for the full camera-ready day and can greatly overstate scripted acquisition. Documentary or live production may justify a higher ratio.
Confirm codec settings before the shoot because frame rate, compression mode, and camera configuration can change the true data rate.
Storage estimates are more useful when camera records, media movement, files, and production information stay organized through acquisition and delivery.
Studio Hero connects scheduling, projects, crew coordination, budgeting, invoicing, equipment tracking, inventory, client workflows, and media assets in one connected studio management system.
Studio Hero’s media asset management capabilities help teams organize media records, metadata, movement history, supporting files, and project-linked assets through production.
Cameras usually do not record continuously throughout the shooting day. Runtime Ratio estimates the portion of camera-ready hours actually spent rolling so storage is based on recorded time.
It uses 1,000, matching decimal capacities commonly used by card and drive manufacturers.
Yes. Proxy Size is calculated as a percentage of Original Footage Size, added to each copy, and included before the free-space buffer.
The field models complete storage copies such as primary, backup, and archive sets. Plan camera-card rotation separately using the media-capacity outputs.
No. It is an estimate based on sustained Transfer Speed and daily original data. Verification, hardware limits, and workflow overhead can increase real copy time.
No. It sizes media capacity and workflow time. Archive pricing and cloud subscriptions are separate financial decisions.
Storage can be provisioned in advance, but daily footage must be copied and cleared quickly enough to keep media available during production. A slow offload workflow can become a day-to-day bottleneck.
Update the estimate when codec or data rate, camera count, runtime ratio, shoot days, proxy policy, copy count, card capacity, or sustained transfer speed changes.
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