Color temp on a 20D?

[Jack W.]

Hi all. I just got my first "L" a few days ago (300 f/4 IS), and this morning is the first chance I've had to play around with it (nothing worth posting yet, just some test shots).
As I was shooting away at things like trees, cars, etc., I started to wonder about color temperature.
What's the recommendation for the color temperature setting on the 20D?
Thanks.
Jack

[etaf]

the colour temp will vary according to the lighting conditions
heres some great info that may help
http://pictureflow.fileburst.com/_WhiBalManual/index.html
http://nikondigital.org/articles/white_balance.htm

[Jack W.]

Thanks etaf!

[PhotosGuy]

Buried in this is an illustration why AutoWB isn't a good idea:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=54281
;-)
Keep in mind that the correct WB isn't always the "right" WB. For instance, I might use a Cloudy WB when shooting a sunset to get the warmer colors.

[cmM]

if you wanna get picky about it, you can get a color temperature meter and dial it right in the camera.

As for me,.... I shoot RAW: it's a lot more flexible.

[Medalta]

Let me get this straight. One of the links posted here suggested that how you set the white balance is somewhat irrelevant becuase if you shot in raw it doesn't matter what you set the camera to. So I have the camera color temp set to 5200k as default. My question is is this a good idea or if I want to enhance the colors should I change it?

[lancea]

Auto white balance does a pretty good job - especially outdoors. Indoors it makes sense to set a custom white balance or use one of the presents. Obviously this has a very obvious effect if you save to jpeg, but even shooting raw it's an advantage to have it roughly right. The raw converters will read the setting and the result will usually be pretty close to the truth. You then do adjustments if required. If you stick with one setting, chances are you'll have to do more adjustments.