hansel

Flags can be very handy in a studio setup - often much quicker to adjust or attach a flag then get a flag on a stand and position it. If I'm shooting in a setup where there are lots of light sources potentially visible, I stick all the flags on. And keep in mind, just because light isn't hitting the sensor, it can still be hitting the lens (esp, say, a full-frame lens on a small sensor camera). Sometimes you don't even know you're getting some flare until you see the same shot flagged.
A variable ND isn't an ND at all - it's two polarizers. So yes, it can jack up a shot pretty badly, particularly skies or expanses of solid color, or long camera moves. And for close ups with skin, it can really deaden the skin. And they can be hard to match from shot to shot.
A matte box with a rotating stage is really handy for ND grads and polarizers. You'll stop thinking of a grad as "just for the sky" and use them to, say, knock down a  bright sidewalk or wall. And with pola's, it makes it easy to kill (or enhance) reflections. A pola in a rotating stage eats a lot less light than a circular pola, which is 2 stacked polarizers.
If you're 100% "run and gun", a matte box could be a hassle (but then, you should be shooting with a camera made for run & gun, with switchable ND and a good EVF and so on). (I see a lot of newbies say their "style" is "run n' gun", when in reality run & gun is a situation).
I don't find 4x4's slow me down significantly. If I were shooting an event, I'd use my big "video" camera. Most other situations, you have a few minutes to frame a shot and work out the DOF and exposure you want. 
I'd say the minimum to look for is 2 stages, at least one rotates - adjustable height; flags that attach securely and can be removed and adjusted without tools; and flags with no open slots at the mount, as you'll get reflections of your FF gears in your footage!

Recently,  I have been exploring the pros of using a matte box. I like the idea of dedicated NDs and flags to control glare. But for as simple as a device as a matter box, is there seems to be a huge variance in price. So my questions are as follows:
1. It's a matte box needed at all? 
2. Given the huge range in price, what is good enough?
3. Do flags matter in a controlled studio?
4. Are dedicated NDs really that much of an advantage over variable NDs?
Feel free to share your knowledge or experience.
 

Some good suggestions in here. I learned a ton from this post. Do you have a Vimeo page? I'd love to see your work. 

I got the Dedos last night. A lady got them for a theater production and had them laying around for quite a while untill she decided to put them online for sale. I had a good fiddle with the set and the way they work beam/flood and light fall or lack thereof made me getting them. Thanks again!

Ha, China Balls, brilliant idea!

The Aputure 198s look cool to me as well, but mostly for kickers/hairlight/accents. Source Four Pars are only $10 more apiece for good used copies and offer much more output and control. Plus, at 575W, you can run two off the same circuit with headroom to spare. If I were on a budget and needed two lights, I'd choose those in a heartbeat over LEDs. They're small, too, so you don't need amazing light stands to support them. I've used aluminum Insignia stands from Best Buy without an issue, although you're going to want to sandbag them.

Also, I almost forgot China Balls! Insanely cheap, but used in all kinds of production from two guys in their dorm room to Roger freaking Deakins. Pop an incandecent bulb, flourescent, or even a rolled-up LED strip inside and you've got a soft, even light that's easy to rig where you need it.

Dedolights are normally way way more expensive than redheads, so if they're the same price and you can't make up your mind....    then it actually is a no brainer, get the dedolights every single fvcking time!!! :-D

Dedo's are my favourite lights ever - 100w isn't much, but for anything - especially involving products - get the dedo's! If you get the redheads too, I reckon 2 dedo's and redheads could do almost anything you need! 
 

Hi Hansel I'm not expert buy I can suggest you the roger Deakins forum, he is the DOP of the coen brothers. it's awesome it approach. he would probably suggest you to do not imitate tutorials/techniques/him, but to experiment by yourself and searching what you feel is right with the light following your taste. and make practice shooting every day.
but is maybe better you ask him directly here: https://www.google.it/search?q=roger+deakins+forum&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-ab&gfe_rd=cr&ei=SRoZWLKRMufw8AeKgoGgDA
 
bye!
 
 

I just struggled a bit with this very issue, and here's what I ended up doing.

I started with a couple used Mole Richardson 1K fresnels. I got each for about $150 off eBay, used in good condition. Beautiful lights, very robust, and easy to control. They're my bread and butter--I use them on everything.

Next, I hopped over to Home Depot and picked up some dirt cheap clamp lights. Fitted with some high-wattage incandecent bulbs, they're great for accents, hairlights, background splashes, etc.

Next thing on the list (should be coming this week) are a few ETC Source Four Pars. $70 each shipped, again used. These are 575W tungsten fixtures, but the design of the bulb makes them about the same output as a 1000W open face. These are great for bouncing or pushing through diffusion if you just need raw output, but they also come with 4 lenses: wide flood, medium flood, narrow spot, and very narrow spot. These attachments don't produce the same quality as a fresnel, but they're usable as direct light and easier to control than a redhead. I've used them on a few sets for background punch, kickers, and even as an effect spot for a dream sequence, and they're surprisingly versatile. You can even pick up 3rd party barn doors for $15 or so. Dollars per lumen, S4 Pars are unbeatable.

As soon as I sell off a few more things, I'm picking up a couple Aputure Amaran 672S LED panels. Excellent CRI, dimmable, run on batteries or AC, remote operable, and easy to diffuse (if necessary) with the built-in umbrella mount or Aputure's softbox attachment. I'm debating going with the Ws instead, as I already have enough hard lights, and maybe a variable color temp version, but we'll see how things pan out once I'm actually ready to buy.

Last item on my wishlist is a Lowel Rifa. I admit, this one is a luxury item; it's essentially a big tungsten softbox, but what makes it cool is that you can have it out of the bag and set up in maybe 20 seconds because of the slick way it collapses and expands. Great for motivating interior lights, as a dramatic toplight, beauty light, or anything else you'd use a big soft source for. Some of the newer Rifas even have a system where you can replace the tungsten fixture with three florescents, lowering your power consumption and giving you the option of daylight balance. Very nice. You can find used ones missing the front diffusion sheet for reasonable prices, then just replace the front for $20 or so.

Just remember, don't skimp on light modifiers, stands, and flags.

Go back to Home Depot and find those big 4x8 ft. pieces of styrofoam insulation--white on one side, silver on the other, 1" thick--cut them in quarters (halves if you have the space), and wrap the edges with gaff tape. Bingo bango, you've got some pretty dope bounce boards! If you're using fresnels, grab some used scrims off the 'Bay. They're a little pricier than dimmers, but they won't mess with your color temp when you need to knock down your output. Buy some basic Lee Gels (get these new) in all the essential flavors: CTB, CTO, Straw, Diffusion, ND. They sell a combo pack of 1'x1' gels that include all these, as well as more exotic stuff and some fun colors (primary red is a personal favorite). Grab a bag of clothespins to hold them on your barndoors, and 1" pony clamps for anything else that needs securing. Grab some blackout fabric (duvetyne) for negative fill and controlling spill. Extension cords seem like a "duh" item, but you'd be amazed how many beginners forget about them. You can't be loading 4000 watts of light onto one circuit, so keep enough of these around to run power everywhere you need it. Lastly, some black wrap (I use Rosco Cinefoil) is great for any time you need to shape a light on the fly. I like to cut mine into big, useful-size pieces so they can be reused from project to project.

When it comes to stands, it's hard to cheap out. You simply don't want to trust heavy, expensive, hot lights to a subpar stand. Most brands are great, although my friends speak pretty harshly about Impact. I haven't used enough to confirm or deny. A lot of people like to use C-Stands for their lights, especially the Matthews ones. Personally, I think they're best-used to hold your bounce cards and flag, as the leg design and articulating arm on the top make gripping and positioning modifiers quick and easy. A good one will run you $180-200 retail, although areas with more local filmmaking may have some on the used market for less. In terms of actual light stands, my favorite for the dollar is the Kupo Master Combo HD Stand. It folds up nicely, has both a baby pin and a junior receiver, gives you a leveling leg for uneven surfaces, a solid steel construction, and can hold up to 88 pounds. What a beast! Best of all, they only cost $150 retail. Use these for your fresnels, Rifas, or anything you need to fly high. Don't forget to pick up some sandbags to keep all this from tipping. I have a set by Impact filled with fine gravel from Home Depot (I feel like they should be paying me for this). Lastly, for your C-stands, some Matthews flags are a staple in any grip's kit. It's essentially just a sheet of black fabric on a metal frame with a post on the end for clamping into a c-stand knuckle, but they're invaluable for shaping your light the way you need it.

This may seem daunting at first, but the best way to learn is to pick up the basics and start using them. Practice makes perfect, and lighting is no exception.

Cheers!

I got the Dedos last night. A lady got them for a theater production and had them laying around for quite a while untill she decided to put them online for sale. I had a good fiddle with the set and the way they work beam/flood and light fall or lack thereof made me getting them. Thanks again!

Hey Dan,
I have been trying to light things with cheap tungsten for the last few years and I think it really depends on what you are trying to do with them. They do the job very well for their price but also can be a pain in the ass to work with for instance if you want to get even exposure over an area. They get hot and in a small studio you will get hot, too.

Dear @DanWake thank you very much! Will suck up as much Deakins intel as possible.
@MichaelCoffee and @IronFilm , well the Dedolights are about 3x more expensive but to be honest, most of the time the more expensive (higher quality) buy is the more sensible one in the long run, at least that's what I have learned in the past. So, I might scrape my last pennies together and check out the Dedos.
Thanks for your advice!

That looks amazing, but now we are dreaming at a 1500$ cameras having better spec than their cinema line.

Finally we have 10-bit 4:2:2 internally, this is a huge step, since others will stat to do the same, the age of 8-crapy-bit is over!!!!!! 

Didn't Samsung put their Super 35mm CMOS from the NX1 on the open market? Why did Nikon or Canon not buy this, back it up with more Samsung chips as is common in the wider semiconductors industry and build their own camera around it?
There are no excuses for Canon and Nikon not to push things to the limit....
I am tired of the lame excuses for products and their wide margins at the expense of innovation
Frankly it is embarrassing.
How much more evolution can you do with a 1970's SLR?

4K uncompressed RAW to plain old CF card? Doubt it... and it would still be a horrific crop.
Magic Lantern peaked with the 5D Mark III and they have moved on now...
I don't expect them to take much interest in future Canon cameras now they involved in making their OWN camera hardware.

Such an underrated camera...
Ergonomics of a Canon or Nikon without the 1970's mirror SHIT
Smallest 4K file sizes on the planet but the highest quality compression..... THANK YOU H.265 YOU ARE THE FUTURE IT IS JUST NOBODY ELSE KNOWS IT!!!!
Ultra clean and noiseless ISO 800, acceptable 1600, falls off a cliff after that but who cares? So does a RED Epic!
Great battery life, great EVF... heck it has an EVF... Unlike my 1D C!! Guess which was cheapest!
Articulated screen but still feels like it is built like a tank and I had mine out in the pouring rain.... didn't pose an issue. Weather sealed yet articulated screen.... Canon take note.
Just look at the images... lovely! Great colour and detail
The S lenses... some of the best Super 35mm this side of PL cinema $30k stuff.
It is a goth of a camera
It is discontinued
Nobody cares about it but the ones in the know...
The GX85 has fantastic colour... Just the right balance between natural 'scientifically correct colour' and memory colour.

And if you don't desire:
Stills DSLR size of form factor Decent codec 10bit Slow-motion Full frame Quite a lot to write off isn't it?!