I think most if not all Canon lenses are electronically controlled... so you can't adjust the aperture when attached to an adapter, which is rather limiting.
I suggest you try the target lenses on your rig, to make sure that vignetting is not a problem.
And generally go with the fastest lenses you can find for your budget...
I don't think you're going to go wrong shooting with either Canon or Nikon lenses - if you're dubious, get both mounts and test each brand of lense out.
I'd discourage you from zooms though. I got a decent 35-105 and it's noticably less sharp than the primes, slower, and heavier. I found there's actually room to zoom in and out on the ground glass to fine-tune your framing too without affecting the quality of the image too much.
Try to never shoot at wide open. If the lens is 1.4 try to shoot at f2 or even 2.8 for the highest sharpness. Also i would suggest buying a set of lenses that are similar in f-stop so that you dont have to jum from say 1.4 to another lens that is 2.8 etc as it will drive u crazy because of the lighting changes. This is the reason why whenever i can i actually rent set of primes from a rental house rather then relay on the lenses owned by the rig owner as more liely then not hell have some cheap lenses that are all over.
"This is the reason why whenever i can i actually rent set of primes from a rental house rather then relay on the lenses owned by the rig owner as more liely then not hell have some cheap lenses that are all over."
Great suggestion and yes, much more recommended if you have the budget. - Nonetheless, I agree on matching primes, especially if buying. Buy as fast as you can even if you buy fewer, and as Patryk said, stopping down a bit will increase sharpness, but be prepared to need a bit more light.
While I wouldn't recommend zooms as your primary lenses, they're nice to have in run and gun situations - both are 2.8 and yes, slower than my primes, but nonetheless, I've been very happy with them.