I would agree that getting a basic look on a set (just a best-light transfer for editorial) could be done fine with 6 controls. Heck, we did it for 20 years with fewer than that. But this approach won’t work for final color today, and I think it’s important for novices, D.I.T.’s, and cinematographers to understand the real-world tools that are out there.

I again say that getting a monitor you can believe in — not an iPad — is a fundamental step in being able to do any kind of color correction. Without that, you’re just digging yourself into a hole.

Personally I do a lot of on set live color correction where I’m limited to the same six buttons (or thereabouts) and I have enjoyed these little lessons and challanges emmensely. Of course people will still use power windows and multiple nodes etc, but this is a great starting point.

Also It’s a $4 app with some good tutorials on it, I think if you just learn or develop one technique as a result of the tutorials and challanges then it’s totally worth the time and limited money you put in.

I agree with Dale that sometimes, simplicity is the key, but much of his thinking is very “1990s.” Directors and DPs push the envelope a lot more nowadays and have very high expectations (sometimes very unrealistic) about the necessity to change and push images and portions of images. Even simple jobs nowadays wind up needing a couple of power windows, which were never possible in photochemical color timing. Once they find out they can literally change the look of every character standing in a scene, often they feel the need to do just that. Good or bad, the colorist’s job is to make the filmmaker happy. Six knobs will generally not do that in 2013.