Libby Peman on filming wildlife with the Atomos Ninja RAW
Posted on Nov 2, 2026 by Lily Smith
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Wildlife in her native Scotland one day, football the next and as comfortable in front of the camera as behind it, Libby Penman refuses to stay in one lane.
Find your niche, become brilliant at it and make sure everybody knows exactly what you do. That’s the traditional career advice for filmmakers, but Libby Penman has taken a slightly different route.
The creative Scottish filmmaker might be behind a long lens waiting patiently for wildlife one day, shooting fast-moving sport the next or directing a documentary, editing, creating online content or stepping around the other side of the camera to present.
“I don’t think the traditional advice of ‘picking a lane’ and only focusing on that works any more,” she says. “As the industry has dramatically changed and budgets are smaller and everyone wants more for less, I now think being multi-skilled couldn’t be more beneficial.”
It’s an approach that’s paying off. Penman was named Scottish Influencer of the Year in 2026 and took the Royal Television Society Scotland award for On- Screen Personality. Her broadcast credits include Springwatch and Winterwatch, while as a shooting producer/director she has worked across documentary, sport, travel and children’s wildlife programming.
She has filmed personalities including Andy Murray, Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti, self-shot and directed a 20-episode BBC children’s wildlife series in Kenya and worked on a BBC sports documentary in New York with her identical twin sister Pip. She is also an accomplished long-lens cinematographer whose wildlife footage has been narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Online, her nature and camera-themed content has amassed millions of views.
For Penman, these aren’t separate careers but are all part of being a modern filmmaker. “Self-sufficiency is one of the best feelings in filmmaking, or any creative industry, when you’re a small operation,” she says. “If filmmaking is your passion, it’s a good time to go for it and work in different genres and different roles. It all helps.”
Wild beginnings
Penman’s ability to follow unpredictable subjects didn’t start with wildlife. Growing up in Fife, she fell in love with skateboarding, BMX and rollerblading and began filmmaking by pointing a camera at Pip performing tricks at their local skatepark.
“I found that I had the skillset to film animals because you’re following fast- moving subjects and it requires a lot of patience,” she explains. “When someone’s not landing the trick, you might have to do a few takes – and it’s the same with wildlife. The animal doesn’t just come up and do what you want it to do.”
After studying film and completing a master’s in wildlife documentary production, Penman gradually turned her passion for the outdoors into a career. It has since taken her from Scotland’s mountains, caves and lochs to Africa, Alaska and New York – and from solitary wildlife shoots to major broadcast productions.
“Being in the wild with a camera, I dunno if you can beat that. Time spent in nature, in a freezing-cold waterfall or photographing some birds or just drinking some coffee by a loch, is the absolute best thing for drowning out the loudness of ‘normal life’,” she says. But it places unusual demands on her equipment. This summer, one new addition quickly became a regular part of the kit – the Atomos Ninja RAW – to give a bigger and brighter view of the subject, open up RAW recording to her Sony gear for maximum quality and use the onboard tools to nail critical exposure, focus and framing.
“As I was shooting a lot of sports this summer, the Ninja RAW has quickly become one of my favourite pieces of kit,” she says. “The sharpness and quality of the screen is the best I’ve used on any external monitor.”
The compact 400g Ninja RAW combines a monitor and recorder around a bright 5.2- inch Full HD HDR touchscreen. Its 1500-nit output is particularly useful for the sort of outdoor work Penman regularly encounters.
“Ninja RAW held up really well in bright light, which I was almost always shooting in,” she says. And sometimes it’s the simplest accessories that prove unexpectedly valuable. “The wee sun hood turned out to be really useful on set.”
More than a bigger picture
The Ninja RAW brings together monitoring tools including waveform, vectorscope, zebras, false colour, focus peaking and EL Zone, giving Penman more information about the image while she is still in a position to do something about it.
“I used zebras more than anything,” she explains. “On a bigger screen you can really focus on any areas that might be overexposed and sort it out in camera. I’m usually shooting on an FX6, so with the internal NDs, I could get things exposed properly and avoid having to rescue highlights later in post.”
Much of her work involves shooting at night, which presents a different problem. “On a bigger screen, using waveforms makes it so much easier to trust what you’re seeing instead of guessing exposure in the dark,” she says. “I’ve had a few night shoots recently and the Ninja RAW ended up being a really important part of my kit.”
It’s also a serious recorder, as the Ninja RAW can capture up to 6K/30p RAW over HDMI, with Apple ProRes RAW, ProRes HQ and ProRes 422 recording options. Media can be recorded directly to CFexpress Type B or compatible external USB-C storage.
Supported cameras can also be controlled from the Ninja, including ISO, shutter speed, aperture and white balance, with touch-to-focus available on compatible models. Power comes from NP-F batteries or USB-C power delivery.
For Penman, though, the value of all that technology is what it allows her to do when things aren’t conveniently positioned at eye level. A rooftop football match in New York provided a perfect example.
“I wanted to film really close to the ground, right at the level of the players and the ball,” she recalls. “Because everything was happening so low, I couldn’t see the camera screen at all from that angle.”
Mounted to her gimbal arm, the Ninja RAW became her viewfinder. “The Atomos ended up being my only screen and I could tilt it into whatever position I needed. It let me shoot some great low-down moments.”
It’s the sort of situation familiar to anyone who shoots unpredictable subjects. Neither animals nor footballers are inclined to stop while the camera operator finds the right menu. “The touchscreen made a massive difference for quick adjustments too, when you’re following wildlife or a sports game,” she explains.
From shooting to sharing
Another feature proved valuable for a very different part of Penman’s work. The Ninja RAW records the camera’s display directly to the CFexpress Type B card in the monitor. Normally you would record a clean feed, but the HDMI output settings on the camera can be adjusted so that shutter speed, white-balance and other information can be included. For somebody who regularly creates photography and filmmaking tutorials, that offers a simple way of showing viewers exactly what she is seeing and doing.
“I loved being able to record the camera screen straight to the card. It’s so handy,” she says. “I’m always looking for ways to show my settings and this was easily the best. For photography or cinematography tutorials, viewers can see exactly what the camera sees in real time. It’s brilliant for making how-to content, and people have said they appreciate seeing my screen.”
Penman admits that much of her technical knowledge came from watching other filmmakers explain what they were doing online. “I taught myself many of the skills I use every day from YouTube videos,” she says. “There are breakdowns on how to do pretty much every technical task.”
When you’re travelling or working with a small crew, however, every extra piece of equipment needs to justify its place in the bag. Penman found the Ninja RAW’s battery performance welcome. “Battery life is noticeably better than other monitors I’ve used,” she says. “The unit itself is neat, slick and genuinely easy to use.”
After a summer moving between very different productions, what began as another piece of equipment has become something Penman now expects on the camera.“At this point, I’d find it hard to do a shoot without this monitor,” says Penman. “It’s compact enough to carry anywhere, but the screen is still large and sharp enough to give a proper, detailed view.”
“That means no surprises when you’re reviewing footage later,” she adds. “I highly recommend it. I love this wee monitor.” For a filmmaker whose career isn’t defined by one genre, one job title or even which side of the camera she happens to be standing on, Penman needs to be ready for whatever comes next – so that she can concentrate on the bit that matters: getting the shot.
5 ways to make your bird images really soar!
Want sharper shots of birds on the wing? Wildlife specialist Libby Penman reveals some of the techniques she relies on for great stills when the action takes off. “Bird photography is so much fun and incredibly addictive,” says Penman. “There’s always something new to learn and improve on.”
Speed is everything
“It’s all about high shutter speed!” says Penman. Wing beats are incredibly fast, so keep shutter speed as high as available light permits. In ideal conditions that could mean pushing towards 1/5000sec.
Watch the exposure
Keep an eye on the camera’s light meter as shutter speed climbs. It provides a quick indication of whether the image is drifting towards under- or overexposure and how far you can push the shutter in the available conditions.
Remember your focal length
When shooting handheld, Penman’s baseline is not to let shutter speed fall below the focal length being used. At 600mm, for example, that means at least 1/600sec for general photography but considerably faster for birds in flight.
Fire a burst
Don’t try to predict the perfect fraction of a second and take a single frame. Use burst mode and follow the bird through the action to give yourself a sequence to choose from.
Get connected
Push the camera firmly against your eye when using the viewfinder. That extra point of contact helps stabilise a heavy long lens while tracking. Alternatively, take the weight out of the equation and use a tripod. Most importantly, keep practising.
Which Atomos Ninja is best for you?
The Atomos Ninja monitor-recorder range – the RAW, TX GO and TX – all have a 1500-nit HDR touchscreen and tally light. And they enable Apple ProRes or ProRes RAW recording over HDMI direct from the camera sensor to CFexpress Type B media or USB-C SSD and handle ProRes RAW, ProRes RAW HQ, ProRes LT, 422 and 422 HQ codecs plus H.265 recording for social media cuts.
There is compatibility with all leading software such as DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Composer.
Each five-inch device has a full suite of professional monitoring tools including EL Zone false colour, focus peaking, waveforms and more, plus camera control to manage ISO, shutter, aperture and white-balance. They can run on an NP-F battery, USB-C power bank or DC adapter and offer firmware updates via the internet, although the most affordable option, the Ninja RAW, requires a USB-C network adapter.
Upgrade to the TX GO and you get more preloaded codecs – Avid DNx and NDI 6 HX3 TX and RX, plus integrated Wi-Fi connectivity, dual recording for camera- to-cloud workflows plus live streaming to YouTube and Facebook.
Moving up to the flagship TX adds 12G-SDI in and out, 8K/30p ProRes RAW, integrated AirGlu timecode sync and conversion between HDMI and SDI.
Find out more at atomos.com
