CAPTURING LYNX CATS IN CONSERVATION posted: 25/03/2020
Panasonic VariCam LT, EVA1 and Lumix S1 cameras were used to capture the extraordinary lives of young lynx cats for the BBC2 documentary, Snow Cats and Me.'
Snow Cats & Me', filmed for BBC 2, is the follow-up to a series of programmes made by Gordon Buchanan, which follows the lives of lynx cats in conservation. The initial 2011 documentary Bear Family & Me' followed black bears in Minnesota and was produced by Jonny Young and Ted Oakes. Its success subsequently spawned a whole series of And Me' programmes to include the lives of Polar Bears, Elephants and Grizzly Cubs.
Preferring to hunt at night, lynx cats are elusive and notoriously difficult to spot, particularly because their habitat exists deep in the forest. The lucrative fur and pet trades saw their population fall, however their numbers have since increased due to conservation efforts.
EVA1 was incredibly light and instantly made a difference on location without compromising on image quality.
The format for Snow Cats and Me with Gordon Buchanan' was much the same as its documentary predecessors. In this heart-warming series, Gordon helps pioneering Russian Big Cat expert, Dr. Victor Lukarevskiy rescue, rehabilitate and release these incredible lynx cats back to the wild. The two-part series was shot on location in the forests of Russia and consisted of a small, lightweight team.
Executive Producer Ted Oakes had previously worked with Dr. Victor Lukarevskiy on another series called Snow Tigers for the BBC in Siberia. The idea from the programme was born when Victor informed Ted that he was thinking of starting a rehabilitation centre for both injured wild lynx cats and those that had been kept in captivity.
In advance of the shoot, Ted had researched scientific literature on big cat rehabilitation and lynx biology, in addition to camera kit. When we went on location for the second shoot, we were informed a couple of days before that the two lynx cats that Victor had sourced had mated, and had two kittens. It was a genuine surprise and meant that we had to hastily compile lots of research on what kittens do when they're days, weeks and months old, and what we were consequently going to film .
Panasonic VariCam LT, EVA1 and Lumix S1 cameras were used to capture the extraordinary lives of young lynx cats for the BBC2 documentary, Snow Cats and Me.'
Due to the unpredictable nature of the project it was important that the team selected a camera they could rely on. Jonny was keen to use a camera that he was familiar with, was robust enough to be used in varying weather conditions, and could capture both the incredible wildlife and the in-vision sync of the presenters , describes Ted. He chose the VariCam LT, having used it on previous projects.
Three shoots across a period of seven months were undertaken in Russia to successfully tell the story of the cats. Victor continued to source lynx cats throughout the filming duration. The total number of lynx cats were taken from two at the start of the project to six by completion of filming.
The challenges of shooting for long-days in an open-air forest influenced the cameras the team was able to use. In Russia, during the second and third shoots there were a lot of mosquitos and dense undergrowth, meaning that moving around with a tripod presented a real challenge to the team, explains Ted
For us, the innovation here came in the guise of weight savings. The EVAs were incredibly light and instantly made a difference on location, without compromising on image quality.
The team needed a camera that would be lightweight and portable but with all the features they required to get the best possible film, and were supported with a camera package from VI Rental Bristol. My shooting style is mainly handheld and reactive , describes Jonny. When Gordon is interacting with the animals, I can be getting the linking shots from up to 10 to 15 metres away. The EVA1 became the main workhorse after we decided that the LT - though a fantastic camera on our first shoot that gave us phenomenal pictures - was just too heavy as a handheld run-and-gun sync camera.
The team needed a camera that could deliver the same colour depth, off-speed shooting and dual native ISOs of the VariCam LT, but wilst being light enough to carry in a forest all day.
The weight of the EVA1 meant that with the Wooden Camera PL mount adapter kit for the EVA1, the camera was portable on a tripod with a Canon CN20 50-1000mm lens. It enabled us to shoot additional wide and beauty shots, opened up our lens options and brought versatility into our shooting, justifies Jonny, Series Producer for Snow Cats.
The need to follow the cats around through the dense forest meant the cameras had to be easily manageable and familiar. For us, the innovation here came in the guise of weight savings. The EVAs were incredibly light and instantly made a difference on location, without compromising on image quality. The EVA1 allowed me to shoot for longer which increased our productivity. We are never working to a script, so when we capture Gordon he can talk for up to 10 minutes at a time whilst shooting in a difficult position.
We had two EVAs - one for myself to cover all the sync and action from Gordon and a second for Gordon to use to capture the beauty of the real stars of the show - the elusive and shy lynx cats. Both of us needed to be able to switch quickly between on speed and off speed and we were able to do this easily; the physical ergonomics and the menu structures of the EVA1 were very familiar to us, explains Jonny.
The Dual Native ISO was a particular feature which helped to capture every move of the lynx cats. The lynxes would often be very active at sunrise and sunset when the natural light was low , describes Ted. We were
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
CAPTURING LYNX CATS IN CONSERVATION posted: 25/03/2020 
