
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 ...
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...
08/09/2026
Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) has announced a multi-year agreement with A E...
08/09/2026
Spectra Logic today announced the availability of Media Insight, a new capabilit...
08/09/2026
Rogers Communications and Quebecor have announced a 12-year sublicensing agreement for French-language national NHL games beginning with the 2026-27 season. TVA...
08/09/2026
Skyline Communications and Bridge Technologies will demonstrate two integrations...
08/09/2026
Boland Communications will make the European debut of its 4K55HDR7SNB 55-inch super-narrow-bezel monitor at IBC2026 (Stand 12.C57, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Ateme and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS) have announced a collaboration comb...
08/09/2026
Haivision has joined the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme as part of t...
08/09/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced price reductions on its PYXIS 6K and Cinema Camera 6K models, effective immediately through Blackmagic Design resellers worldwid...
08/09/2026
AI-Media will demonstrate its LEXI Suite at IBC2026 (Booth 5.C34, September 11-1...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin and Ad Insertion Platform (AIP) have announced the first live deploymen...
08/09/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate story-centric media workflows at IBC2026 (Booth 9.A01, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), connecting newsroom production, content ma...
08/09/2026
M2A Media and Ateme have announced a partnership integrating Ateme's video processing solutions into M2A Media's MediaToAnywhere platform for live sport...
08/09/2026
Ikegami will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 12.A31, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), including a Day 1 introduction of new cameras in the UNICAM XE series. Additiona...
08/09/2026
Broadcast industry analysts will be gathering plenty of insights at the 2026 IBC Show this weekend in Amsterdam, but Caretta Research has offered up some though...
08/09/2026
SENSHI and DAZN have announced a global broadcast partnership that will bring SENSHI's live events free to viewers in more than 200 markets. The partnership...
08/09/2026
New architecture built with Evertz will bring 4K HDR to Monday Night Football, N...
08/09/2026
Built for rap producers, by rap producers
Sauceware Audio, the independent plug-in company founded by Grammy-nominated producer Jacob (Travis Scott, 21 Sava...
08/09/2026
Classic Sound Techniques design revived
Warm Audio's latest release delivers a meticulous recreation of the preamp circuitry employed by the Sound Techn...
08/09/2026
Latest soft synth inspired by the Memorymoog
XILS Lab have just launched a software instrument that draws its inspiration from Moog's iconic Memorymoog,...
08/09/2026
The Airport Chaplain takes off as SBS's biggest launch of 2026
8 September, 2026
Media releases
1.67 million viewers on National Total TV to date
Best...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Mo-Sys, the world-leading developer of virtual production, camera robotics and image tracking technology, has completed a business restructuring, which has incl...
08/09/2026
New York, September 8, 2026 The TSAmediaHUB audiovisual contribution and distribution infrastructure developed by Telef nica's Audiovisual Services area re...
08/09/2026
Expanded Riyadh operation brings Asharq and Thmanyah services together on a resilient on-premises Pebble platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, content mana...
08/09/2026
Techex, a pioneering leader in live video workflows, will showcase its broadest software feature set to date at IBC 2026 (Stand 2.B45), extending its lead in so...
08/09/2026
Visitors to Grass Valley's booth at IBC2026 will be introduced to new Framelight X capabilities that connect content acquisition, management, editing and pu...
08/09/2026
BCNEXXT will showcase the latest evolution of Vipe at IBC2026 (Stand 2.B09), introducing a series of innovations designed to deliver higher-quality audience exp...
08/09/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Ad Insertion Platform (AIP), a leading innovator in advanced ad insertion technologies, to...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics and augmented and virtual production, is announcing a major package of enhancements to its Suite 7 soft...
08/09/2026
Big Blue Marble is supporting TDF, French infrastructure and network operator, broadcasting Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and radio services, as a techno...
08/09/2026
Agents work inside a single production environment, from incoming wire copy to a live studio show...
08/09/2026
Building on their strategic partnership, Ceeblue and Layercake make the unthinkable possible: scalable sub-second streaming over standard DRM, SSAI, and CDN wor...
08/09/2026
Brainstorm, a leading manufacturer of real-time graphics, augmented and virtual production, is completing the environment for fast-paced broadcast production wi...
08/09/2026
A SaaS portfolio built to work together, helping operators grow audiences, monetise smarter and run leaner, on their own terms
At IBC 2026 (stand 1.B49) Synam...
08/09/2026
Accedo, global provider of video streaming software and services, has been selected by PlayOn Sports, a national leader in high school sports technology, to exp...
08/09/2026
LiveU, the leader in live IP-video solutions, is enabling The Associated Press to take global newsgathering to the next stage with intelligent connectivity and ...
08/09/2026
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced the latest evolution of it...
08/09/2026
Compact, power-efficient X Platform performance brings broadcast-grade reliability and ultra-low latency to space-constrained remote production (REMI) workflows...
08/09/2026
Zixi, the leader in live video delivery and workflow orchestration, and Kiloview, a leading provider of professional IP video encoding and decoding solutions, t...
08/09/2026
Collaboration gives content owners scalable CDN capacity and broadcasters enhanced flexibility, including for C-band transition planning
Quortex today announce...
08/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/09/2026
Telos Alliance and Pluxbox Announce Dynamic Media Facility Integration Partnersh...
08/09/2026
J nger Audio Showcases Industry-First S-ADM Cloud Workflow at IBC 2026
Search
Dolby, MainConcept, Techex and J nger Audio will showcase the industry's ...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Sky Go gets a major upgrade for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers
Today, Sky launches a new version of the Sky Go app for Sky Glass ...
08/09/2026
Documentary thriller simulating a Russian attack on UK soil will culminate in a live final episode reuniting the playersTuesday 8 September 2026
Trailer releas...
08/09/2026
Tuesday 8 September 2026
Jamie Demetriou and Amelia Dimoldenberg to host next t...
08/09/2026
Wuppertal September 8, 2026
Riedel Introduces New OnAir Headset PlatformRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its new OnAir headset platform, a...