White Balance (10.66)

The D3000 compensates well for the color differences between varied sources of illumination, with good results using the automatic system and exceptional accuracy when using a custom setting. We test white balance using the X-Rite Judge II light box, which produces illumination with consistent, repeatable color temperatures. We shoot the X-Rite ColorChecker chart under three types of lighting: incandescent (similar to traditional household bulbs), compact white fluorescent and daylight, first with the white balance set to Auto, then after taking a manual reading. More on how we test color.

Automatic White Balance (9.56)

Incandescent lighting is the greatest challenge to auto white balance systems, and like most cameras we’ve tested, the D3000 produced images that were noticeably warm, with a distinct orange tint under these conditions. Shooting in daylight, though, the white balance adjustment was effective, and compact white fluorescent results were nearly as good.

Custom White Balance (11.75)

Taking a custom white balance reading banished the incandescent orange hue from our test images, and improved on the already good results we’d seen using the auto WB setting under fluorescent lighting. Of course, we expect to get good results from an SLR using manual white balance, so our scoring standards here are quite high. That said, the D3000 outperformed all of the other cameras in our comparison group on this part of the test.

The Pentax K2000 and Canon Rebel XS auto white balance systems handled daylight illumination exceptionally well, while the D3000 performance is respectable.

None of these cameras compensated for the color of incandescent lighting very well, but the Nikon D3000 is actually the best of the bunch.

With fluorescent lighting the Olympus E-620 and Canon Rebel XS again demonstrate their superior accuracy, though the Nikon D3000 does improve on the results for the Nikon D5000.

The poor performance of the automatic white balance system under incandescent lighting dragged down the D3000’s overall score, but investing a few moments in taking a custom reading produced excellent results.