Art Adams at ProVideo Coalition wrote a nice short article about White Balancing.
Obviously I can’t carry a chip chart and a vectorscope when going out there and shooting, let alone own them, so I’ll essentially retain one simpler advice in Art’s experience – quote:
“If the shot works on either daylight or tungsten preset, that’s where I stay–because those results are the most predictable without a monitor, as long as I’ve viewed them in advance and found them acceptable.”
Okay! Sounds exactly like I did here! I checked the OUTDOOR WB preset in advance, determined what custom Picture Profile adjustment would make it closest to what I like best, and voilà – colors are much more predictable and gorgeous now with my FX7.
We often learn things the hard way (like ruined footage), and after that it’s really nice to read one of the experts confirming this WB preset stuff.