So I heard Media composer does not have secondary color correction. Is there a cheap plugin for this?

Chrischen,

A lot of different things are called secondary color correction. It can be color isolation (for purposes of adjustment or color replacement). It can be full screen. It can be windowed - square, rectangle, circle, oval or custom-drawn ("power windows"). Colorista does full screen or square/rectangle/oval/circle windows (not custom). You can achieve "power windows"-style secondary results in Media Composer by duplicating the clip onto a higher track, using Animatte tools to isolate an area within the clip and applying different correction to that area.

- Oliver

Take a look at ColorFix from 3Prong: http://www.3prong.com/

Which one can match the features in Color from Final Cut Studio while staying cheap for me. I know Colorista is only $99 academic. Does that have all the features found in Final Cut Color?

Colorista combined with Magic Bullet Looks should be able to do everything you're looking for.

Looks + Colorista is $10 short of what I paid just for Media Composer. And that's at academic pricing too. Added together it's almost as much as Final Cut Studio.

I wish I hadn't sold my free copy of Xpress Pro. Could have gotten full commercial upgrade for $499. Now it'll cost me $999.

Also what filters/plugins come with Media Composer?

Also does Colorista have the motion tracking feature in Color?

I believe Colorista has masks or what's commonly called Power Windows but I don't believe they have a tracker. I suggest you download the demo version of each and try them out.

In the Media Composer you can use the Paint effect to create a shape and apply basic corrections to that shape and track it.

So media composer has motion tracking and I can use that to track a shape that I want to color correct? Does it also allow me to select a color and change it?

Media Composer has a tracker. Here's a tutorial:

http://learn.avid.com/content/tutorials/SNtracking/tutorial.html

Using the Paint Effect or AniMatte with two layers of video a very basic correction can be applied and tracked. For example, I've corrected a scene where the subject was looking at a computer monitor and their face was blue from the reflection of the screen. I was able to draw a shape, make color adjustments to remove the cast and track it.

Additionally Boris Red/Avid FX has a powerful color corrector and motion tracking:

http://www.borisfx.com/tutorials/motiontracking.php

Avid FX is ships standard with Media Composer 3.0 with a low cost upgrade for current customers.

I got the academic version, so I don't get Boris Red. Does After Effects have the same color correction features? It is cheaper for me.

Anyone (in the US at least) with SN/MC 3.0 or NC 7.0 can buy the Avid 3rd Party Application Bundle for $195 from the Avid Store. This is a great deal; Boris Red lists for $995 and BCC (Avid FX) for MC is $1,995 alone. 

This includes:

• Boris Continuum Complete v5.0.3 (Universal Mac and PC)
• Avid FX v5.8 (Universal Mac and PC)
• Sorenson Squeeze v5 (Universal Mac and PC)
• Avid DVD by Sonic v6 for PC
• SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 4.5 (Universal Mac and PC)
• SmartSound Music Core Foundations (Universal Mac and PC)
• SmartSound Music Core Sessions (Universal Mac and PC)

Hey cool. I didn't know that. That's cheaper than if I were to go and buy the academic versions of each of those products. It should work with the academic version of media composer right?

Does the third party pack come with the tools to match Apple Color's feature set? I saw the video demo and it's really nice how it can easily turn dv video into a pro look.

A skilled color corrector, the person not software, can do it with MC as essy to.

Color is a nice tool in a skilled profesionals hand. But as all advance tools, a non skilled or not so advance, user will easy end up in a mess. Which You already can do with MC.