Time-Lapse Storage Calculator

This calculator works out everything you need to plan a time-lapse shoot: how many frames you'll capture, how long the resulting video will run, and how much storage and battery capacity to bring. Total frames come from dividing your total shoot duration (converted to seconds) by the interval between shots, so a 2-hour shoot at a 5-second interval yields 1,440 frames. Video length is simply that frame count divided by your chosen output frame rate — the calculator does not add or drop frames to hit a target runtime, so if you want a longer final video you need a shorter interval or a longer shoot, not a different frame rate. Storage is calculated by multiplying frame count by the file size per frame, with JPEG assumed to run about 30% of the size of RAW at the same resolution; the calculator lets you flag whether you're shooting RAW or JPEG and adjusts accordingly.

From total storage it derives how many memory cards of your specified size you'll need (rounding up, since a partial card still counts as one), plus the inverse calculation — the maximum shoot duration a single card can hold at your current interval and file size. Battery needs are estimated very roughly at 400 shots per battery, a conservative average that doesn't account for cold weather, long exposures, or in-camera processing between shots, all of which drain batteries faster than the shutter count alone suggests. The speed-up factor (interval × fps) tells you how much faster real time will appear to move in the finished video.