Try New Tech

If you are at a high school, college or university, you might have the option to borrow gear from classmates, professors, or media/tech centers at your school.  Most schools have gear for rent/loan when attached to a class project.  These options might allow you to try out different camera types and brands, and different focal lengths of lenses.  If you don’t have these resources available, there are a number of places that you can rent from online, or even possibly local camera shops if you are lucky enough to still have one in your area.

If you are going to shoot with a camera that is unfamiliar to you, make every effort to get it a few days before the shoot, along with a manual (from the owner or downloaded to your phone).  Get out and shoot some stuff for fun to get familiar with it, and to ensure it’s in good working order.  Recharge the battery before the shoot, no matter how low it might be – modern batteries don’t have a ‘memory’ any more so they usually don’t need to be drained before being recharged.  Also use the extra time to get into the space and plan out your shots.  Know where you need to be based on the focal length of the lenses you have available to you.