I think it would be great if there were some sort of discussion followed by a discussion of the right lenses that should be used on these boxes.

There could be a 3 tier system.

Grade A
The best lenses, being the fastest too, with no price index.

Grade B
Good lenses with medium prices

Grade C
cheap lenses (ie $80 USD) with average optics for experimenting with.

The idea would be if you can afford the best, great!
But if you just want to play around, but a few cheap lenses and then hire the best lenses for you shoot.

That way you could rock up to a rental house with a clear indication in mind of what you need. Of course if you know what your talking about with lenses you wouldn't need such advice.

For myself, a year ago i didnt understand anything like a 50mm lens, or 28-85 etc.


Cheers,
Ben Gurvich

The top tier would probably be the Cooke S4's and the Zeiss/Arri UltraPrimes. Most focal lengths are between T1.4 and T2, and will offer excellent results. I haven't seen any yet, but the latest series from Zeiss/Arri, the MasterPrimes, are all T1.2 and optimized for wide-open photography--quite an achievement.

Next would be the Zeiss Superspeeds, which are good, sharp older lenses. There are three generations of these; the older ones still deliver great results for a DV relay system. You can also go with the Zeiss Ultraspeeds, which are about a stop slower, making them less desirable for this type of application (the amount of light you will need doubles, plus whatever the transmission of your ground glass requires).

There are some rental houses that have Russian lenses, which can be decent and are usually cheap enough.

Below that you are probably into the realm of still camera lenses, which are good optically but a bit more functionally problematic in a motion picture environment.

All true. As for SLR lenses, if they are overhauled mechanically and geared, they can successfully substitute (even for film) the higher end counterparts:
http://www.visualproducts.com/services03.asp?ID=87&Cat=84
Nikon and Canon have GREAT lenses and they have been used (and abused) on film cameras for years:
http://www.visualproducts.com/store03.asp?ID=22&Cat=8
I do not work for visual products, or Beattie, but I found their products/services good.