The animal kingdom does most of its activities at dawn or at dusk, and many only hunt when they can hide in the darkness that the nighttime brings. This video showcases how BBC went about capturing the animals using artificial light at first, and how they do it now using infra-red and thermal cameras.
Being able to photograph heat radiated from an animal with thermal cameras, and using infra-red makes it possible to capture animal behavior never seen before and made wildlife documentary as appealing and interesting as it is today.
The equipment used is a RED Dragon with a filter removed to make it an infra-red camera, and only during their shooting of the documentary did the Sony a7S reach the market, which they now often used thanks to its remarkable low-light performance and dynamic range. The camera has a full-frame sensor, but fewer pixels. This means the pixels are bigger and allows each to take in more light. This small body is easy to strap on to a drone or enclose in a waterproof housing for shots underwater.
We live on a beautiful planet. Thanks to technology we can see what previously was unseen.
