Olympus E-620

	White Balance Summary
• Auto WB handles daylight well, stumbles on fluorescent and incandescent lighting • Custom WB good, but not as precise as competitive models • Extensive white balance controls include three fluorescent settings, direct entry in degrees Kelvin, manual fine-tuning • White balance bracketing supported
	Resolution	Page 6 of 17	Sample Photos

White Balance (5.94)

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The Olympus E-620 ran into difficulties in our combined automatic mode / custom mode white balance testing, with notable difficulties under two out of three illumination sources in our auto WB testing and results after setting a custom white balance that still weren't as accurate as other SLRs we've tested.

We shoot a standard ColorChecker chart inside a Judge II light box, produced by X-Rite, that provides carefully controlled illumination at a variety of color temperatures. We test under incandescent, compact white fluorescent and daylight illumination. The test photos are analyzed using Imatest to determine how far the results vary from the chart ideal values. Click here for more on how we test white balance.

Automatic White Balance (6.93)
The results shooting in daylight using the automatic white balance mode were quite good, but fluorescent lighting produced significant color error. As for incandescent illumination, that poses a consistent stumbling block for auto white balance systems, and the Olympus E-620 followed the weak performance trend we've come to expect, with images that are far too warm and orange, though still not the worst we've seen. Taken together, the camera scored a middling 6.93 in automatic white balance mode.

In the charts below, the bars indicate color error, so shorter is better. Also worth noting is the fact that the horizontal scale used varies to accommodate the much larger color error figures for incandescent illumination.

Auto White Balance

The color error in daylight produced by the Olympus E-620 is certainly greater than the comparison cameras shown here, though the shift toward overly warm tones is not so dramatic that it will jump out at you when looking at actual photos.

Auto Daylight White Balance Performance Comparison

The auto WB system produces overly warm images under incandescent lighting, but that's not uncommon, as shown below. This is an area where manual control, whether taking a custom reading or using the included preset, is worth the effort.

Auto Incandescent White Balance Performance Comparison

Photos taken under fluorescent illumination were subtly but significantly too warm, an apparent attempt by the WB system to overcompensate for the inherently cool tones of fluorescent bulbs.

Auto Fluorescent White Balance Performance Comparison

 

Custom White Balance (4.94)
Taking a few extra moments for a custom white balance reading cuts the incandescent lighting problem down to size, producing only minor shifts toward the cooler side under all three illumination sources. The scoring in this test is stringent, though, and the Olympus was not as accurate here as competitive models.

Olympus E-620 Custom White Balance

The Olympus E-620 underperformed all the cameras in our comparison group, including its brand-mate E-30, when it comes to overall white balance performance.

White Balance Score Comparison

White Balance Settings (9.070)

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The Olympus E-620 offers eight white balance presets in addition to auto WB, manual white balance setting and direct white balance entry in degrees Kelvin. The three settings for fluorescent bulbs is a useful addition, given the different color temperatures available with different bulb types.

White Balance Types
Display	Mode	Color Temperature
	Auto	2000K-14000K
	Daylight	5300K
	Shade	7500K
	Cloudy	6000K
	Incandescent	3000K
	White Fluorescent	4000K
	Neutral White Fluorescent	4500K
	Daylight Fluorescent	6000K
	Flash	5500K
	Manual	2000-140000K
	Degrees Kelvin	2000-140000K

The procedure for taking a manual white balance reading requires that the programmable Fn button has to be set to One-touch WB mode, which requires a trip deep into the bowels of the menu system. If you're the type of photographer who cares enough to take manual readings, you'll probably just set the Fn button and leave it as a white balance control, which pretty much defeats the purpose of having a programmable button in the first place. Unfortunately, there's no other way to set a manual white balance.

Once the button is properly programmed, taking a reading still requires some manual dexterity: you hold Fn down, point at a white surface and hit the shutter button.  If you've already said you want Fn to be the white balance control, wouldn't pressing just that one button make more sense than requiring a combo move? There is one bright point to this procedure, though: you don't have to set the camera to manual white balance mode and then take a reading separately. The act of taking the reading sets the camera to manual WB mode.

The white balance setting can be manually fine-tuned along the Amber-Blue and Green-Magenta axes. each in 15 increments. Unlike some cameras we've used, there is no interactive way to see the effect of these fine white balance changes while shooting. You can press the AE/AF lock button and take a temporary preview shot at the current setting, allowing you to see the effect without leaving the fine tuning screen, but each change has to be previewed separately.

Three-step white balance bracketing is also available, a handy way to hedge your bets. A single image is taken, and saved in three different flavors. Adjustments can be made in either or both of the Amber-Blue and Green-Magenta axes, in 2-step, 4-step or 6-step increments.

Resolution Page 6 of 17 Sample Photos Olympus E-620 Digital Camera Review Navigation