Wedding sneak peeks over 4G
1,000 frames across the day from a 24 MP body, JPEGs sent as you go, about 4 frames a minute.
- Per photo
- 9.6 MB · 12 s
- Total
- 9.6 GB
- Time to deliver all
- 3 h 13 min
- Keeps up?
- Yes
Enter how many photos you'll shoot, your camera and your connection. You'll see the total size, the time to deliver everything, the seconds each photo takes — and whether uploads keep up with how fast you shoot, or how far behind you'd fall. Every assumption and formula is spelled out below.
At 4 shots a minute, uploads keep up: the connection is busy about 77 % of the time and each photo lands about 12 s after you take it.
To deliver faster
It estimates each photo's size from your camera's resolution, then divides by the share of your upload speed that actually carries photo data. Units are decimal, as cameras, cards and cloud plans use them: 1 MB = 1,000,000 bytes, 1 GB = 1,000 MB, and 8 bits make a byte.
RAW size (MB) ≈ megapixels × 1.2 (lossless; 2 uncompressed, 0.6 compact)
JPEG size (MB) ≈ megapixels × 0.4
Smaller JPEG (MB) ≈ (long edge × long edge × ⅔ ÷ 1,000,000) × 0.3
Seconds per photo = size × 8 ÷ (upload Mbps × 0.85) + 0.3
Total time = photos sent × seconds per photo
Keeps up when photos sent per minute ≤ 60 ÷ seconds per photo
“Photos sent” is your photo count × the share you send. If you shoot faster than the connection can deliver, the queue grows by the difference every minute; when you stop, it drains at the connection's pace. A RAW + JPEG pair is two uploads, so it pays the 0.3 s set-up time twice.
A 14-bit sensor records 1.75 bytes per pixel. Uncompressed RAW files usually store each pixel in 2 bytes, so about 2 MB per megapixel; lossless compression — the default on most current bodies — typically brings that to 55–70 %, so we use 1.2 MB/MP. Lossy “compact” formats (Canon C-RAW, Nikon High Efficiency, Sony and Fujifilm compressed RAW) run about 0.45–1.0 MB/MP; we use 0.6. A full-size, high-quality JPEG is 0.25–0.65 MB/MP depending on detail, ISO and maker; we use 0.4. As a check against real files, a 24.2 MP Canon EOS R1 CR3 had a median 33.4 MB in our tethering speed test (1.38 MB/MP), and a 26.1 MP Fujifilm X-S20 JPEG 16.9 MB (0.65 MB/MP).
| Format | MB per MP | 24 MP | 45 MP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uncompressed RAW | 2 | 48 MB | 90 MB |
| Lossless RAW | 1.2 | 28.8 MB | 54 MB |
| Compact RAW | 0.6 | 14.4 MB | 27 MB |
| Full-size JPEG | 0.4 | 9.6 MB | 18 MB |
| JPEG, 2,048 px long edge | 0.3 | 0.84 MB at any resolution | |
The presets are planning figures for upload speed, which is usually a fraction of the download figure a speed test leads with. For scale: Ookla's Speedtest Global Index put the global median mobile upload at roughly 11–14 Mbps, and the median fixed-broadband upload at roughly 48–57 Mbps, across 2024–2025. Mobile medians mix 4G and 5G, so we use 8 Mbps for 4G and 20 Mbps for 5G. Venue Wi-Fi is shared with every guest's phone, so we assume 5 Mbps for your device. Your speed will differ: measure the upload where you'll shoot and type it in.
We count 85 % of the link speed as photo data (encryption, protocol overhead and retries take the rest) and add 0.3 s per file for setting up each upload. The camera-to-phone leg is left out: over USB it's a fraction of a second per photo — see the USB vs Wi-Fi tethering speed test.
1,000 frames across the day from a 24 MP body, JPEGs sent as you go, about 4 frames a minute.
800 lossless RAW files from a 45.7 MP Nikon Z8, all sent, at a busy 10 frames a minute.
2,000 frames from a 33 MP Sony α7 IV, only the best 15 % sent as JPEGs, 8 frames a minute on shared Wi-Fi.
The upload is nearly always the slow leg, so the quickest fix is to send less: shoot RAW + JPEG and send only the JPEGs, or send only the frames you rate in camera. In CloudTether those are JPEG only and rated send (Canon and Nikon). Its delivery-size settings make the copies your clients receive smaller, not what the phone uploads. Shots that can't upload yet wait safely on the phone — see how camera to cloud works. Planning where all those files will live? Try the photo storage calculator.
About 3 h 13 min for 1,000 full-size JPEGs from a 24 MP camera (9.6 GB) over 4G at 8 Mbps up, or about 1 h 20 min over 5G at 20 Mbps. RAW files are roughly three times bigger, so they take about three times as long. Enter your own numbers above for your camera and connection.
Roughly 1.2 MB per megapixel for lossless compressed RAW, the default on most cameras — about 54 MB from a 45 MP body — against about 18 MB for a full-size JPEG of the same frame. Uncompressed RAW is about 2 MB per megapixel and compact formats such as Canon C-RAW or Nikon High Efficiency about 0.6. Detail and ISO move the real size up or down.
Internet speeds are quoted in megabits per second (Mbps); file sizes in megabytes (MB). There are 8 bits in a byte, so an 8 Mbps upload moves at most 1 MB per second — a 10 MB JPEG takes at least 10 seconds. The calculator also allows for protocol overhead, using 85 % of your link speed.
Speed tests report the best your connection can do for a few seconds, usually the download. Photos go up, not down, and mobile upload speeds are typically a fraction of download. Signal drops as you move around a venue, a crowd shares the same cell or Wi-Fi, and every file has set-up time. Measure your upload where you'll shoot and enter it as a custom speed.
Send less. Shoot RAW + JPEG and send only the JPEGs, send only the shots you rate in camera, or record a smaller JPEG for live previews. Then pick the faster link: 5G or a good Wi-Fi network over 4G, and your phone's hotspot over crowded venue Wi-Fi. In CloudTether, JPEG only and rated send (Canon and Nikon) change what leaves the camera; delivery-size settings shrink the copies clients receive, not what the phone uploads.
Very little over USB. In CloudTether's app logs a JPEG reached the phone in a median 0.06 s over USB and a 33 MB RAW in 1.46 s, so the upload from the phone to the cloud is nearly always the slow part. Wi-Fi tethering was about three times slower than USB but still quicker than most uploads.
It's free, needs no account and runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is sent anywhere. The page address updates with your numbers, so you can bookmark or share a result.
CloudTether copies every shot from your camera to your iPhone, iPad or Android phone and uploads it in the background as you keep shooting — so the queue starts with your first frame, not when you get home.