White Balance (9.37)

We test two facets of white balance performance, shooting under three types of illumination using the camera’s auto white balance system, then taking custom white balance readings and shooting under the same three conditions. The combined scores for the Nikon D5000 were nearly identical to those for the Nikon D90, a middling result that nevertheless surpasses the Canon T1i by a small margin.

We test white balance using the X-Rite Judge II, which produces consistent illumination at a variety of color temperatures, shooting the ColorChecker chart and measuring color error in the test shots using with Imatest. More on how we test color.

Automatic White Balance (10.35)

As with most cameras, the auto white balance system had a difficult time with incandescent lighting, producing the kind of overly orange images you’re used to seeing in shots taken with standard household bulbs. The shots taken under fluorescent lights were a bit warm but not bad, and shooting under daylight illumination produced reasonably accurate results. In the charts below, the bars indicate color error, so shorter is better.

Custom White Balance (8.39)

Switching to custom white balance setting didn’t affect the D5000 results in daylight, though incandescent and fluorescent results were far superior to the auto white balance images. We expect a very high level of color accuracy after taking a custom white balance reading, though, and the D5000 result is only fair compared to the other cameras in our lineup.

The D5000 photos under daylight illumination were cooler than most, but not by very much amount, and significantly more accurate than the Canon T1i. With incandescent lighting the D5000 couldn’t match the results from the D90, but still stands up well to the competition. Both Nikons delivered warmer than expected images when shooting under fluorescent lighting in auto WB mode.

While the D5000 did outscore the Canon Rebel T1i slightly, it still falls behind both the Canon Rebel XS and the surprisingly strong Pentax K2000 here.