I'm way over my head here. I'm on a deadline, and the film quality has to be high. I can spend a few hundred dollars renting equipment, and the camera is basically the only thing I need because I have lights, mics, etc. What are the main divisions separating different cameras, their film, etc? (I just need something that looks really good but doesn't cost a fortune). I'm a student but not in a film program - do universities ever let students borrow their equipment?
About the only way you'd get a university camera would be to find a local film student who'll DoP for you, or to chat up the people at the university who lend out the equipment.
However, if you can only manage a few hundred dollars for renting the camera, can you afford the film to put in it? Even 16mm is around $25 a minute including processing.
