Olympus E-30

	White Balance Summary
• Extensive array of white balance controls • Needlessly complex custom white balancing • Decent automatic white balance, but below average accuracy with custom white balance
	Resolution	Page 6 of 19	Sample Photos

Automatic White Balance (11.30)

We tested the E-30's abilities to handle different light sources appropriately on both automatic and custom settings, and it performed below average yet again. It did alright on auto, but was less accurate than most other cameras when a manual white balance was taken. In order to test this reliably, we shoot the X-Rite colorcheck chart in the Judge II light box, which provides tightly controlled illumination at precise color temperatures.

Auto White Balance

Under incandescent/tungsten, fluorescent and daylight illumination, the E-30 tended towards the warm side, leading to slightly yellow images. This was especially noticeable under incandescent light, which is not uncommon.

Auto Daylight White Balance Performance Comparison

The Olympus E-30 did relatively well with daylight illumination, though not quite to the level of the other cameras we tested.

Auto Incandescent White Balance Performance Comparison

All cameras struggle with incandescent light, and the E-30 is no exception, though it dealt with the yellow light of the standard household fixtures better than most.

Auto Fluorescent White Balance Performance Comparison

The E-30 scored worse under cool white fluorescent bulbs than any other camera in our test group except the Nikon D90.

Custom White Balance (7.92)

When taking a custom white balance, you expect a high degree of accuracy from the camera. The E-30 had a tendency for its "one touch white balance" to run slightly cool, but not hugely. While the results is worse than most other cameras on the market, the difference won't be highly visible in actual photos.

Olympus E-30 Custom White Balance

One issue we had with the custom white balance, called one touch white balance on this camera, is that the only way to take a reading requires the use of the customizable Fn button on the camera. Since there's no way to take a white balance from the menu system, you have to use your customizable button for this if you want to take an accurate white balance, precluding it from other uses.

White Balance (9.61)

White Balance Score Comparison

While the E-30 did relatively well when set to automatic white balance, its relatively poor custom performance pulled it quite a bit lower in the overall white balance performance comparison. In Custom mode it scored lower than any of the other listed cameras.

White Balance Settings (9.00)

White Balance Types
Display	Mode	Color Temperature
	Daylight	5300K
	Shade	7500K
	Cloud	6000K
	Tungsten	3000K
	White fluorescent	4000K
	Neutral white fluorescent	4500K
	Daylight fluorescent	6600K
	Flash	5600K
	One touch WB	Any
	Custom WB	2000-1400K

These presets can all be tweaked along the amber-blue and green-magenta axes, either individually or all at once. Additionally, white balance bracketing can be set to either axis in two, four or six steps over three photos. If you're using Live View, one of the view options shows you four variations of your current scene with different white balance presets applied.

Interestingly, the camera has a dedicated white balance sensor on the front of the camera, sadly placed where it can easily get blocked by stray fingers. It didn't seem to give the E-30 a performance boost over cameras that don't have it, though, and it can be turned off if the light sources are substantially different between the camera and subject.