> you HAVE to shoot tests if you don't know the camera very well. a couple quick tests will tell you what will or will not work for the particular camera you have. 

This I totally agree with – every production and post scenario I’ve been involved with that did not go well was most often due to lack of sufficient testing. Testing is really a vastly underused technique. For this in particular, I would test detail, white balance (different sensors key better in tungsten vs. daylight), gamma curves (especially knees for hair highlights) etc. until you know what settings will key best.