Budget Camera Testing: Establishing a Visual Language Without Extensive Rentals?

Hey everyone, as a Key Grip, I’m often seeing cinematographers grappling with budget constraints, and it’s something I'm trying to wrap my head around more from their side. I’m currently on a short film project where the DP is really pushing for a distinct visual language, but our budget for pre-production testing is super limited. I heard some folks talking about how proper camera testing can easily run over $10k these days, renting a VENICE 2 with a full set of primes, various filtration, and enough crew to really dial things in. That's just not in the cards for us; we're looking at maybe an ARRI ALEXA Mini and a couple of zooms from a local rental house for the shoot. We’ve done some basic in-house tests with an AMIRA we borrowed, just shooting some charts and skin tones, but it feels nowhere near enough to really establish a 'look.' How do cinematographers on tight budgets effectively test and develop a visual language without access to those extensive rental packages for dedicated test days?