How long can a handphone do video recording?


donut88

Senior Member
Nov 14, 2008
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I got an event that going to last over 2 hours, and i'm thinking of doing video recording of it

Its a fixed location recording. Means i can mount the camera on a tripod and let it run.

If i use a handphone, how long can the handphone video recording last? I know it depends on the SD card capacity. So i want to know how long can a SD card last for video recording?

Can it last over 2 hours continuously?

Let's compare using HD and non HD video recording.
 

Not sure if you're aware, many digital cameras usually have a 30min recording limit. From what I understand, some mobile phones have this too. You'll have to check the manual to see if it is specified. Best will be to do a test to be sure.

Apart from that, every phone will vary due to different bitrate/codec. You can do an estimate by taking 1 min video in the resolution settings you want to test for, see what the file size is for a 1min recording and then multiplying that by 120mins to get your 2 hour estimate.

Definitely do a test shoot using the actual phone to shoot that duration you intend to shoot, even if it's just a blank wall, so that you know for certain what the phone will be able to do. This will also tell you if the phone will overheat and stop with that kind of duration.
 

Not to mention: bring external battery pack.
 

From what I know, it depends on what smartphone you're using to record a video. In my case, I use Samsung S6 Edge, and it has 32GB built in memory space. The good thing about this phone is that when you record a video, it notifies you on the number of space you're consuming. So, I would say it depends on the phone you're using.
 

i tested with iphone 6 record 50min non-stop file size about 3.33GB

A7Rii 30min at 100fps 20.4GB
 

I got an event that going to last over 2 hours, and i'm thinking of doing video recording of it

Its a fixed location recording. Means i can mount the camera on a tripod and let it run.

If i use a handphone, how long can the handphone video recording last? I know it depends on the SD card capacity. So i want to know how long can a SD card last for video recording?

Can it last over 2 hours continuously?

Let's compare using HD and non HD video recording.

If you want to use handphone to record video, remember to switch to flight mode so that there will be no incoming call or SMS that will disrupt the recording.

How long the video can be recorded depend on SD card capacity and battery life.

For SD card, you must remember to set the handphone to use a folder in SD card as storage for video. Handphone by default use the internal storage for video. HD video use more space than non HD video.

Last time, I do a similar recording for a 3++ hours event. I use 2 tripods and 2 handphones. When one handphone battery low, the second handphone take over the recording. Then I use movie maker to join these 2 videos together.
 

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