Please what is the optimal lens to use on the SI2K. Is it Super 16mm or 16mm lenses & which will cause cropping or vignetting.
Also is the use of Ground glass adapters like Redrocks M2 possible with the c-mount.
Lastly can Shallow DOF be achievable in Close-ups with any lens other than the SUPERSPEEDS, for instance using the Fujinon C-mounts.
Thanks.

Both 16mm and S16 glass will work with the SI-2K, although S16 will have a 1.15x multiplier (approx). Of course the newer lenses (and sharper glass) are all S16, so your best glass with be either Zeiss or Cooke, or something of that nature.

As far as the ground-glass adapters, we haven't hooked any of those up yet, but if you shoot wide-open with either the Fujinon or the Superspeeds, you'll get an effect similar to shooting 4-perf 35mm at F4-5.6. This won't be as shallow a DOF as a F1.2 or F2.0, but it is still fairly shallow.

Jason, what is the widest aperture you can use without having problems with the microlenses on the altasens chip? The fujinon lens is f1.2 wide open, correct? I don't know what the distortions look like, or if is just simple vignetting, but could the video be corrected in post-editing if you use a super fast lens like a f0.95?

That I don't know . . . sorry :(

could you be MORE specific on the 16mm lens ..

i know 16mm lens will cover 720p so the question is

does 16mm lens cover 1080p ?

does 16mm lens cover 2k ?

16mm covers the entire chip . . . although some early glass, such as older Angenieux, Switar, and Bolex-class c-mount lenses can vingette at wider angles.

But the B-mount class stuff should work fine, although you will need to make it a PL-mount to fit the camera.

As far as the ground-glass adapters, we haven't hooked any of those up yet, but if you shoot wide-open with either the Fujinon or the Superspeeds, you'll get an effect similar to shooting 4-perf 35mm at F4-5.6. This won't be as shallow a DOF as a F1.2 or F2.0, but it is still fairly shallow.

Jason , what are the cons of using the Fujinons & is it possible to follow focus with them.

That I don't know . . . sorry :(
I could ship one of my Schneider-Kreuznach f0.95 lenses (for free) to the Silicon Imaging team to do a couple frame grabs or tests.

These are very sharp, very fast, and about $1000 from B&H Photo. ($1300 for the 17mm)

If SI doesn't have time to evaluate it, Are there any SI-Mini owners here who would be willing to help me out?