Brad Merkle

We are filming a feature this summer with a canon XL-1s I plan on doing several tests to get the best quality I can. I want to shoot as simple as possible and a cheap as possible. I will be using the standard lens that come with it but I want to get is as good as I can. I want to get it to look as close to 28 days later without forking out the dough for the mini 35. If anyone has thoughts or suggestions it would help. Thanks,