There are a few things you can do. 1st I'm a big fan for renting different cameras to get a feel for what you like. Renting is very cheap and competitive nowadays and this also is a great way to not be out a lot of money if you don't have back to back paid gigs right away.

As far as financing, Amazon & Paypal credit usually have 12 months same as cash when you spend a certain amount. This would be different than leasing because you would own the equipment.

What kind of work do you do?

Thanks.

What is the in camera app for sony that gives a flat picture profile? Thanks

I'm not really a huge canon fan because their DSLRs don't have quite the video functions many people are looking for. But to me those cameras don't compare and if those were the only 2 you were looking at for some reason I would go with Canon.

One major question to answer is what type of films do you want to make, i.e. narrative, docs? Will you be shooting any events on the side?

Is that for new or used and body only at that price I would guess?

I think that after reading some of the comments here, there is one question you need to address first. What type of shooting will you be doing, i.e. events versus narrative?

For Event shooting you will want some sort of zoom lens with stabilization. For narrative work you may want an adapter with a few cheap prime lenses to start, like canon or nikon, etc.

But as far as the statements about investment, $400 is not a large amount of money to worry about if you change camera systems down the road.