You have a project to shoot and you’re excited to try out your new camera but before you go rushing off getting all creative with dynamic angles here are a few steps recommended by Insignia a top film production company in Kenya.

1. Charge your battery

You really don’t want to put your cast on hold because your batteries are low on charge so it would be wise to leave your batteries charging overnight if you’ll use them the following day. When your batteries are fully charged, you should get an indication such as a blinking light remaining lit or turning off.

2. Set the time and date

When you turn your camera on you will get the option for setting the time and date please do so setting this correctly will mean you can go back to images or videos later on and check exactly when they were captured.

3. Format memory card

You have previous footage that you’ve copied and counter checked, it’s advisable to format the memory card to create more space and also to avoid mixing up footages. To make this easier, make sure you copy all the footage you shoot at the end of the day and note it down somewhere.

4. Get familiar with the mode dial

Your camera may have a mode dial that has options such as P, A, S and M. If you want to leave all the decision making to the camera and just start shooting, set this to auto. The A mode is the Aperture priority, S is Shutter Priority and these allow you to determine the aperture of the lens and the shutter speed respectively.

5. Check your image quality.

Make sure your camera is set up so that your images are being captured in the way you expect them to be. There will also be an option to shoot images in ‘Raw’ and an option to use both raw and JPEG at the same time. Choose options that will help your images to be as clean and detailed as possible, and free from artefacts that affect your image quality.

6. Check your ISO

Now check your camera’s ISO setting as this determines how much light the camera needs to create the image and as the general rule, you want to be using the lowest possible value as this will give you the best quality result.

7. Check your white balance

This option is set to AWB or Auto. You don’t need to change this as most cameras do a pretty good job although if you’re shooting under some kind of artificial lighting, you will have to select the option that matches your lighting source.

8. Know your autofocus system

Activate this system by switching it on the side of your lens or on your camera body. It is important to know how to change this to a single point mode and also how to move this focus point around to suit your subject.It is also important to investigate where your camera movie record button is. Even if you don’t think you might shoot many videos, you may want to call upon this for special occasions so it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the record button control.

This are the recommended steps by a top film production company in Kenya, insignia productions.