
Filmmaker, research biologist, and adventurer Dan O'Neill is known for his incredible photography and documentary films using camera trap technology to study endangered wildlife across the globe. His research takes O'Neill from the snowy heights of Kyrgyzstan to remote swathes of the Amazon rainforest and beyond. Perhaps best known for his work with big cats and the Snow Leopard Trust, O'Neill depends on SmallHD's Indie 7 monitor to support his filmmaking in some of the world's most diverse natural environments.
O'Neill's first collaboration with the Snow Leopard Trust is documented in the four-part BBC Earth series Ghosts in the Snow. O'Neill and a very small team travels through Kyrgyzstan aiming to demonstrate and learn more about snow leopard conservation. With a background mixed in wildlife filmmaking and biology, the researcher brings a unique, artistic eye to the process. He describes, My specialism is using high-end video camera traps to record animals in a way that you probably have never seen before. But to do that, you must have really good tech. The researcher turned to SmallHD with a very specific need: I wanted high quality monitors that I could plug into my camera trap systems.
A camera trap system consists of a scientifically organized grid of remote sensing cameras, that operate using trigger sensors. Experts rely on camera traps to conduct research where human presence is a liability rather than an asset. The technology has revolutionized the understanding of really elusive and low abundance animals, particularly vulnerable species like snow leopards, O'Neill says. Instead of using PIR infrared movement sensors, which can be prone to false triggering, something that wastes precious battery life, he likes to set up two infrared laser triggers, creating a beam. When the beam is broken (by, for instance, a snow leopard) the camera is triggered.
O'Neill uses Cambush Cube with Sony RX camera for his camera traps. With anywhere from 5 to 30 cameras working at one time, it was crucial to have a monitor set up that would never slow him down, while still being appropriate for a two-man team and a rugged trip into the Himalayas. For him, the answer was SmallHD's Indie 7. The Sony RX camera has great focus setting, up to really minute detail, along all your exposure mapping and everything, he explains, but it only has a teeny tiny action camera LCD screen. Having a monitor that you can then plug into the camera and then properly visualize your image makes a huge difference.
SmallHD's Indie 7 is a 7-inch touchscreen monitor, built lightweight and powered by the familiar Page OS software. The daylight viewable screen provides 1000 nits of brightness, allowing O'Neill to accurately set his camera traps even at the brightest times of day. With a rugged, thin aluminum chassis, the monitor perfectly supports filmmaking in the harsh, high-intensity environments the researcher works in. After setting each camera system, he simply unplugs his Indie 7 monitor, and the Cambush Cubes are on their own for another three months.
For O'Neill, behavioral ecology moves beyond collecting data and into telling a compelling conservation story. Being able to interactively visualize wildlife in really high quality is critical for getting the perfect shots. You can miss something so easily, whether that's an animal in the rainforest, or trying to discern a snow leopard from the mountain backdrop in Kyrgyzstan. Your monitor is critical. One of the most amazing things about this monitor is that as soon as I return to the site, I switch the battery out and right away I can check all the footage from the camera trap. His delight and gratification while playing back footage of the elusive snow leopard on his Indie 7 is palpable in the BBC documentary series.
I learned so much about snow leopards working with Snow Leopard Trust I really fell in love, O'Neill admits. Even 30 years ago, we knew basically nothing about snow leopards and today they're still the least understood big cats in the world. But with these camera traps, we now have a window to see what their secret lives are like. Snow leopards are animals shrouded in mystery, with a small population today estimated as between 3,920 and 6,390. They are the highest altitude cats, living in the third pole, the central high Asian mountains. They're critically important to the mountains, not just as a vulnerable species, but as the iconic and beautiful icon of the landscape.
Snow leopards are also a flagship species. The fight to preserve the big cat has the potential for wide-reaching positive change. If you can protect certain areas for snow leopards, there's a whole plethora of other species the mountain ecosystems and communities that are helped by that conservation initiative. Snow leopards range across 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Mongolia, and Nepal. Despite vastly different political ideals, social structures, and religions, the conservation of this one animal can bring these nations together in some small way. This conservation story tells that this animal could be a key to peace, which is really, really beautiful.
O'Neill continues his work with the Snow Leopard Trust and last year officially joined the team as their first explorer in residence. His mission to bring awareness to wildlife preservation continues, SmallHD monitors in tow. I love being able to be at the sort of frontline of what's happening in tech or film. The fact is, Indie 7 is really useful in Snow Leopard camera trapping projects.
To follow Dan O'Neill's work and check out his latest adventure: https://www.instagram.com/danowild/
To learn more about SmallHD Indie 7: https://smallhd.com/pages/indie-7
To learn more about the Sn
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
21/07/2026
With winners Spain having already paraded the World Cup trophy through Madrid in front of millions of fans and the dust now settling on an epic tournament of th...
21/07/2026
In a time of disarray in regional sports broadcasting, the league will provide c...
21/07/2026
When NEP designed one of its largest recurring mobile production unit fleets for PGA TOUR
coverage, the leading media services provider faced a familiar challe...
21/07/2026
High-end analogue channel strip boasts plug-in recall
Originally revealed as a prototype back at NAMM 2024, the Channex Studio channel strip represented a b...
21/07/2026
Relies on same DSP as plug-in range
Musik Hack's line-up has been influenced heavily by founder Stan Greene's work as a mixing engineer, and their M...
21/07/2026
Official collaboration with boutique builder Dirty Boy Pedals
Warm Audio have just announced the launch of a new guitar pedal range created in collaboration...
21/07/2026
SBS scores biggest ever FIFA World Cup Reach as Spain triumph in the final
21 July, 2026
Media releases
Spain v Argentina attracted a Total TV reach of al...
21/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz showcases broad range of EMC test solutions at EMC SIPI 2026 in ...
21/07/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery's unbroken lead is interrupted as sports and live mus...
21/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/07/2026
Across the TV and streaming ecosystem, industry players face mounting pressure to do more with less. They must simplify operations, protect premium content and ...
21/07/2026
Tuxera, a leading prover of quality-assured file systems and networking technologies, is bringing its latest advances in connectivity performance to the media w...
21/07/2026
COW Jobs: Apple Motion Expert for Custom FCP Rigged Graphics Package
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
HIRING: Apple Motion Expert for Custom FCP ...
21/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, will use its presence at IBC2026 (stand 7.A01, Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September) to...
21/07/2026
Calrec will be located in Hall 8, on Stand C47
Beyond bigger
For years, broadcast facilities were built around one assumption: provision for the biggest pro...
21/07/2026
Pebble, the leading automation, content management and integrated channel specialist, will discuss its future-facing developments for the new generation of medi...
21/07/2026
nxtedition returns to IBC2026 with its consolidated production platform, showing how scripting, editing, graphics, AI-assisted tools and automation can work wit...
21/07/2026
C2PA content signing helps broadcasters, public institutions, and publishers give audiences a verifiable record of where their video content came from and how i...
21/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/07/2026
New capability centralizes collaboration, feedback, security and status tracking within VIDA, providing a structured, auditable approach to master quality contr...
21/07/2026
Lightcraft Launches Exclusive Spark Story Beta for Filmmakers and Creators at SI...
21/07/2026
Indie Road Movie Where in the Hell Shot with Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
Brie Clayton July 20, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist blends vintage film looks to shape...
21/07/2026
Which USS Defiant Pulse Phaser effect is better?
Graham Quince July 20, 2026
0 Comments
Aargh, ever since @DarkRavenProductions posted a comment ask...
21/07/2026
Harmonics cOS Virtualized Broadband Platform and Pearl Remote OLTs Enable Flexible PON Migration, While SeaStar Optical Node Powers Cost-Effective Multi-Gigabit...
21/07/2026
Every live event starts with a defining moment. A camera captures the game-winni...
21/07/2026
AI has entered the gigascale era.
The world's most advanced AI factories are bringing together hundreds of thousands of GPUs and CPUs to train frontier mod...
21/07/2026
NVIDIA Vera Rubin is here, and it's going gigascale.
Vera Rubin NVL72 produ...
21/07/2026
160 hours of Irish storytelling for 2026
KIN and The Walsh Sisters return
RT has today unveiled its most ambitious drama slate ever, with a record-breakin...
20/07/2026
The former Northwestern broadcast-operations leader is helping train the next generation of live-sports-production talent across the Big Ten
The sports-product...
20/07/2026
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. Whi...
20/07/2026
Product range now readily available in the UK
Graph Tech Guitar Labs have just announced the launch of a new UK Online Store that makes it quicker and easie...
20/07/2026
Popular headset gains active noise cancellation
The Maxwell headet was Audeze's first foray into the gaming world, and thanks to its Dolby Atmos compati...
20/07/2026
The NFVF, an agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, has released t...
20/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/07/2026
Starfish Technologies will use IBC2026 to showcase the flexibility of its transport stream processing software, including the latest versions of TS Splicer (Win...
20/07/2026
Bitfocus, the specialist in media control and monitoring, will show at IBC2026 (Elgato stand 8.D31, Amsterdam RAI, 11 14 September) how its Buttons control la...
20/07/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced new AI capabilities that e...
20/07/2026
Big Blue Marble's Cloud DRM has been nominated in the DRM/Content Protection category of the 2026 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards.
Only four pro...
20/07/2026
Monday 20 July 2026
Sky brings free global roaming to millions of loyal custome...
20/07/2026
Red Seat Ventures Announces Introduction of Premium Creator and Podcast Communit...
20/07/2026
FIFA World Cup Final sets new RT Player record as the most-streamed single event in the platform's history
Over 1 million viewers watched live on RT 2 as ...
20/07/2026
At this year's SIGGRAPH conference, running through Thursday, July 23, in Lo...