The Railroad Worm gets its name from the eleven pairs of luminescent yellow organs that look like the lit windows of a midnight train. Additionally, this fascinating bioluminescent creature has two more organs on its head that glow red. However, due to film equipment lacking the right low light capabilities to properly capture the bioluminescence in action as it appears in the wild, the Railroad Worm had never been filmed. That is, until the second episode of Planet Earth II entitled "Jungle" when filmmakers used the low light monster that we, in the Alpha Universe, know as the Sony α7S.
Vox went behind the scenes to see how night shots of Planet Earth II were filmed. In the video below, they explain what makes the α7S such a valuable asset in these low conditions. "The Sony α7S has a full-frame 35mm sensor but it actually has fewer megapixels than most comparable cameras. That means each pixel is bigger and can take in more light. They've also engineered two steps of noise reduction to keep the image cleaner....Now it's opening up new opportunities for filmmakers."
Emma Napper, a producer on Planet Earth II, is heard describing the benefits of the α7S's versatility. "We can now put it on drones, we can take it underwater, and suddenly I think there's a lot of animal behavior which we'll be able to reveal using that camera."
Vox concludes that "...as long as engineers keep innovating, filmmakers will keep finding new ways of revealing the beauty and diversity of planet Earth."