Just wondering if anyone had any advice for mics...
We need to purchase come monday, please help???

i've never used one, but other people on the site seem to be big fans of these: http://www.sennheiserusa.com/newsite/category.asp?transid=cat34

i'm not sure which specific one to get though.

www.maketradefair.com
www.thehungersite.com
www.oxfam.ca

I think the problem is that you're looking for the cheapest mike: I've used two or three different types, but they're mostly $1000+ (e.g. in most cases we've used the Senheisser 416).

So I don't really know anything about how well the cheaper mikes work.

the prices aren't on the website, but aren't some of those in the 300-range?

www.maketradefair.com
www.thehungersite.com
www.oxfam.ca

Yeah, I don't think I've used those though.

I think the ME66 is one of the ones that a lot of people use at the lower end of the market... that's probably more like $500-750 with all the goodies (e.g. you need a seperate power module and you'll ideally want the whole support/windshield/boom stuff to go with it). Again, though, I haven't used it myself.

The good thing about mikes is that the technology changes much slower than cameras: a good mike today will probably be perfectly usable ten years from now. AFAIR the 416 design is at least ten years old, for example, and I always found it very good at picking up dialog while blocking out most of the background noise.

BTW, I don't know where you are, but it's also worth considering renting if there's an audio rental place near you. The last time I shot a short we got a 416 mike/boom/windshield/cables/XLR to 3.5mm adapter for about $50 from Friday afternoon to Monday lunchtime.

Good mikes are pretty cheap to rent precisely because they're a lot cheaper than good cameras and can be hired out year after year before needing replacement.