MOONGOAT

Harsh sunlight + event can be a pain. You don't get the luxury of setting up silk frames. The best you can really do is ND or stop down and have a camera with a lot of latitude, then drop the contrast in post.
 
If you have control over your subjects ask them to move into the shade.
 
That Australian sun is brutal on contrast ratios.

Do a lens cap test and find out yourself. Doesn't take too long.
 
Record 10 seconds of footage with the same settings at each ISO with the lens cap on. The results might surprise you. I've found with my GH2 ISO 1250 is cleaner than 250.

you can technically shoot everything with 1 lens  :P
 
stop shopping, start shooting,... that way you can figure out yourself what you're missing/needing.

I gotta say I disagree with a lot of posts in this thread. It says in the title 'total beginner'. I don't think recommending $1000+ glass is necessarily a good idea. As great as some of these recommendations are, dropping a large amount of money on a new hobby is never a good idea.

Do a lens cap test and find out yourself. Doesn't take too long.
 
Record 10 seconds of footage with the same settings at each ISO with the lens cap on. The results might surprise you. I've found with my GH2 ISO 1250 is cleaner than 250.

Dark with bright text so it doesn't hurt my eyes at 6am ;-;
 
Or better yet just give us an option of both?

I'd have to know the details of the project, but my first thought is just going handheld with a wide, optically stabilized lens.
 
Here's a thread on Creativecow you might find useful.
 
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/142/871512

Top Gear confirmed for best show.
 
Also funny to note, I did a search for Top Gear before making this thread and found Wondo's post from October last year claiming he sold 2 cages to them.
 

heh.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2/10

Really nice. Love the ecu's of the ink prints on her face

I'm going to say most responses will be no because they're not professionals who need them.

Generally Light Meters are used because misjudging an exposure on film would be very costly. When you're shooting with a bunch of friends or on a low budget set with a prosumer digital camera it's not such a big deal. No need to waste hours during a shoot checking those values. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but a lot of DP's don't use Light Meters because they aren't always necessary, especially when you know your camera well enough.

A REAAAAAAL HUUUUUUUMAAAAAAN BEEEEEEEEEINGGGG

I'm in the same boat. Trying to justify the $560 ;-;