eatstoomuchjam

There's a lot more to the question than just which lights to use.  If you're indoors and feel like you're fighting the sun and if the windows will be mostly out of focus in the background, you can just put ND gel over them - it's fairly cheap and fast.  If they'll be in focus, IMO ND gels look a little bit like shit so that might not be your best option.
If you're outdoors and fighting the sun, especially for close-ups, a collapsible reflector or two (or three if you have one which can give some negative fill) is often a lot better than trying to compete with the sun with your light.  You can get a pretty big reflector for about $30 from almost any photo store in the world.
Otherwise, short of going with really big lights, if you're trying to blast a light through a window and have it compete with the sun, it's going to have to be a pretty big light.  In those cases, I'd probably try to find a way to shoot the scene differently.  😄
These days my main kit consists of 1xAputure 600X, 1xAputure P300C, 1xAmaran 300C, 2xAmaran 150C - as well as the B7C lunchbox, MC4 mini-lunchbox, and a few scattered MX's.  It's more than enough for almost anything that I shoot.  I'll probably continue adding some stuff here and there when Aputure have huge sales (their Black Friday sale is legit - I got a huge discount on the 600X plus a couple of bonus things).  If I need to go bigger than that, I'm more likely to rent it or to just hire a gaffer to roll up with a box truck full of stuff.
For shooting on the go, I just also put together a kit with 3xStellaPro's with their Bowen mount - they're tiny and run off of USB-C so I can plug 'em into a V mount plate or even a battery bank.  Only disadvantage?  Above 30% or so, the fan runs constantly.  I'm excited to actually do a shoot with 'em.  I also picked up a Molus X100 for the cases where I want somebody to hand hold a light.  It's alright, but the reflector in the Bowens mount seems to do some funky things with my softboxes.
 

Yeah, I assume that too.  
I've always been conscious of this too.  The only potentially impartial reviews are when the person buys it anonymously like any member of the public would, gets it the same time it ships to everyone else, then they put it through their paces.
The other issue with "reviews" that aren't long-term reviews is that the person hasn't had the product for long enough to really test it.  People like Gerald might know what shortcomings to look for and actively go looking for them, but no-one can test reliability in less than a week.  
I find the same issues with product reviews on Amazon etc - they are essentially first-impression reviews.

My guess is that the difference in actual user experience of a system receiving a 923 and one receiving 893 will be negligible.  Between the two, I'd choose the one where I get a better deal.

By the time you add the size and weight of a converter box, you should probably just get the Z Cam EVF or the Portkeys OEYE and save money.

If you're in the PC world, you're definitely better off editing on desktop vs laptop if you're working with high-res footage or doing effects, etc.  Most laptops throttle down a lot when not plugged in and (in my experience) make a jet engine noise when dealing with a prolonged load on CPU/GPU.  And as ac6000cw says, the mobile GPU's are almost always lesser versions of their desktop counterparts.  Also when on battery, life tends to be very short because CPU/GPU pull a lot of power.
My M2 Max, on the other hand, can handle 8k Canon raw acceptably - and I got the weaker variant of it.  Performance is almost the same whether plugged in or on battery.  Fans do ramp up when working it hard (now that I've added denoising to most of the scenes that need it, the 14-minute short I'm currently working on/grading definitely has the fans running full blast when I run an export).  
Basically, in absolute performance numbers a high-end PC desktop will beat any Mac currently on the market and at a fraction of the cost of a Mac Studio ($3k for a decent Ryzen + RTX 4090!).  A top-of-the-line PC laptop plugged into the wall will also outperform the MBP in absolute numbers (except whoooooosh fan noise)...  but if you want to actually be mobile, the Mac is the hands-down winner.
 

Hollywood shoots ProRes for the most part, except for VFX plates. 

It's worth pointing out that the thermals might be the dominant factor here, considering that laptops will throttle down on their performance in order to manage overheating, so a few extra fans in the laptop can make more difference than which model of CPU / GPU you buy!

That makes total sense.  One would expect a professional colorist to groan a bit if handed 8-bit log footage vs 10-bit log (or 12-bit raw).  I'd imagine that most want the most flexible image to work with when possible - there's a reason that Hollywood tends to shoot most stuff on Arri and it's not ease of use or portability. 

The internet says CP-16 - maybe Auricon.

HA!  I guess that goes to show that their target customers aren't the colourists then!!

In general, the stills stuff is a really close match for the film stocks (differences in the production are tiny)...  and we weren't talking about a small difference, especially in the greens.  Meanwhile, FilmConvert and Fuji's own Velvia profile both look quite a bit like my slides.  😄
As you said, though, a lot of the people using it have never actually used the film stocks that it claims to emulate - and some of their emulations look nice.  If you won't suffer cognitive dissonance from many of them not looking a lot like what they claim to be and/or want to use ACES as a starting point, it's a decent product.  Unless something changed recently, FilmConvert really doesn't have a good story for ACES (I think that last time I checked, it was "transform out of ACES into something else, apply FilmConvert, and then transform back").

The budget is just for the body and not for the body+glass?
1) Used GFX 100S - the video is good enough for vacation and the stills are incredible
2a) C70 - looks nice SOOC, built-in ND's, nearly the perfect camera for a fast turn-around
2b) GFX 100 II (Love mine)
3a) C70 - as before and the raw from it is flexible enough for anything I do
3b) Used Monstro 8K VV - I haven't actually shot with one, but they seem pretty nice and I sometimes consider doing some trade-in toward one - used models are now about 6k for the brain on reputable used sites

True.  Especially if you wanted to have good control over it independently across the 6 main colours.
There's a lot of talk about how these two plugins are going to put DCTL writers (plugin scripts essentially) out of business. I don't think it will, because DCTLs can be made to do a lot more things than they are currently used for, but it's an interesting observation that the DCTL writers were using them to do things like this because they weren't so easy from the UI.
In the same way that a new camera gets everyone on here excited and then start to argue with each other, discussing film emulation has the same effect on the colourist groups.
I've found two things:
1) The more I read these discussions the more I realise I don't know.  
2) The more I read these discussions the more I realise I don't care!
Seriously, the focus for the colourists who are arguing seems to be how accurate they are.  What is interesting though, is like here with cameras, the people arguing seem to care a lot about tiny little things, and yet the people out in the world doing the things also don't care about the accuracy of the tiny little things, but just see the emulations as useful for actually doing real work.
I suspect that the niche for Dehancer is likely to either be that it's more accurate, at least for certain film-stocks, or that it is more useful in some feature or other.  These are the kinds of things that colourists seem to care about.  The fact you tested it with a stills film rather than a motion picture stock might also be significant as the colourists likely don't care too much about those.

I was given a free temporary license of Dehancer to do a review for them and they said I would receive a free permanent license upon finishing the review (whether I gave it a positive or negative review).  I tried it and declined to continue.  If you already have a Nitrate license from FilmConvert, you're in the right place.  Dehancer did a few things better and could make a pretty nice starting point for an image, but the output colors in many cases didn't actually match the film that it claimed to be emulating (like not even close with Velvia 50) - and their answers for why made no sense at all.

I debated between the two last year and went with the C70.  It's my go-to A camera these days with the R5 as B camera.  Without watching that video, I'd guess that the image on the right is the C70 (more highlight and shadow detail).

Both of those cameras are great, you should get one. What are you shooting with now?

Film Look Creator all day long! Slices seem cool too. Only trouble is that render cache seems a bit borked in the beta - where I was previously getting real-time playback it seems to be falling over a bit.
You?

So there's a guy who lives near me - young guy, good looking - who 2 years ago gave up a film-making degree at a London university (can't remember which one - but a good one, I can remember thinking when he told me) to go on the tools with his dad, because he couldn't see any way that an expensive 3 year course was ever gong to wash its face.

Was talking to his sister this evening and she reckons he'd be totally up for getting involved in my short. Which could mean I've either got talent that isn't me, or a camera op that isn't me. Either way, it suddenly makes this project a whole lot easier.
(Not to mention Resolve 19 - which changes the space entirely!)

To be fair, I vaguely remember the OP stating at some point that he/she likes to have discussions about gear. And let's be honest, this forum is primarily a gear forum. Perhaps the OP should mention that this discussion isn't necessarily about a decision he's currently planning on making and instead it's about learning and gathering information.
With that said, @kye has a fair point. These cameras are only tools for creative endeavors. These cameras will not make the film or  color grade your film or make your film good. At the end of the day, story is king.
I would suggest to the OP that they take some time and go back and look what people were creating when the DSLR revolution began. Look at t2i and GH2 videos to see what was possible with limited resolution, DR and resources.

...and if they had picked one up and shot with it, they might like or dislike it for reasons unrelated to the video it can produce (like where the buttons are, how the menus work, battery life, monitoring options etc.).

One of the reasons that people are getting frustrated is that you're "asking basic questions," but then basically ignoring a lot of the answers.  It's like you keep asking what saw makes the best cabinets.  When people tell you that you need more than a saw, you start asking people to compare brands of saws.  
Which cameras has the best color and in-camera noise reduction?  All of them.  Also, none of them.  Go to NAB and ask 100 people on the floor.  Every one of them will be completely correct.  Every one of them will be completely incorrect.  How do you know?  Ask almost any of the others.
It is also a bit frustrating that you are asking questions that seem like you are trying to choose which camera to buy and after you receive a bunch of answers, you shift your focus and start asking again.
If you want somebody to yell at you about which camera has the best colors, go to YouTube.  There are dozens of people shouting about how the camera that they bought is the best camera ever.  Then just try to ignore the other videos from all the people saying it's the worst camera ever.  Heck, there are already dozens of videos just about the Pyxis talking about how it's the best camera released in years or the most ho-hum camera announcement so far this year.  Bonus: almost none of the people with those videos has even seen a Pyxis in person, much less actually shot with one.

One of the reasons that people are getting frustrated is that you're "asking basic questions," but then basically ignoring a lot of the answers.  It's like you keep asking what saw makes the best cabinets.  When people tell you that you need more than a saw, you start asking people to compare brands of saws.  
Which cameras has the best color and in-camera noise reduction?  All of them.  Also, none of them.  Go to NAB and ask 100 people on the floor.  Every one of them will be completely correct.  Every one of them will be completely incorrect.  How do you know?  Ask almost any of the others.
It is also a bit frustrating that you are asking questions that seem like you are trying to choose which camera to buy and after you receive a bunch of answers, you shift your focus and start asking again.
If you want somebody to yell at you about which camera has the best colors, go to YouTube.  There are dozens of people shouting about how the camera that they bought is the best camera ever.  Then just try to ignore the other videos from all the people saying it's the worst camera ever.  Heck, there are already dozens of videos just about the Pyxis talking about how it's the best camera released in years or the most ho-hum camera announcement so far this year.  Bonus: almost none of the people with those videos has even seen a Pyxis in person, much less actually shot with one.

I'm just wondering why you were posting a random YT video.
If I posted a new thread with every video I liked then the place would just look like my YT viewing history and not a forum where discussions can happen and people can share knowledge etc.
I don't know what experiences you had in high school, but I've been an adult a long time and I've become fond of talking to people.
I really don't know what you were trying to say?
What point were you trying to make?
Maybe if you actually typed something then there might be some communication....?
There are all sorts of interesting things in that video, so the discussion could be a good one.
Let's all leave high school behind and try and discuss things like adults 🙂 

I just realized - I did come to the wrong forum. I just assumed this was a wider community than what actually is. Many view themselves as filmmakers. I do not, I’m sure there’s other forums/places to chat just about equipment etc and not ruffle weathers of those who see themselves as “filmmakers”. 

Here's my recommendation for SOOC shooting - Sony AX100.  As Dave says "Sony AX100 looks better than your camera".
Just look at the nice contrast, saturation, and above all...  skintones!  and in mixed lighting no less!
Good luck getting that with a "better" camera - they all have far too much DR to give you a punchy image from their 709 LUTs or profiles.