White Balance

I feel like I've lost my mind. I can swear that I've already posted this question. I mean, I remember it in detail, but I can't find it anywhere on this board. I've done a few searches by keyworkds and by all posts by me but I can't seem to find it. Maybe I just remember me thinking about posting this question but not ever really getting around to doing it. At only 27, this kind of thing sometimes worries me.

Anyway, this is kind of directed to Photo John seeing how he's done a test of the Sony F828 and all but anyone who knows anything is free to reply. What do you think of the auto white balance, and the factory preset white balance settings on that camera? I've played a bit with them, and it seems that the daylight setting makes my pictures look alittle too red and dark. If I'm trying to capture the color of a flower for example, should I be using one of those grey cards I've heard mention of on this board?

Here's a pic of my bike where I used the daylight white balance setting.

It looks red to me, too. I guess Sony thought their customers would like a warmer image. I know I do. But maybe not quite that warm.

I can't remember for sure, but I think I mostly used the 828 in auto white balance mode. If you're interested in more control, definitely try using the manual white balance. You don't need a gray card to do manual white balance - only a white piece of paper. Keep in mind that doing manual white balance adjustments isn't always practical. For instance, you probably wouldn't want to do it on the trail. For practical purposes, you should see how the auto white balance works for you, and if you don't like it, maybe create a correction you always use on the sunlight white balance.

I've found that 90% of the time the auto wb works fine, but I've since played wtih the manual wb and boy does that work great! Easy to use to.. thanks!