White Balance (13.83)

We tested the Pentax K2000 white balance performance in three of its preset modes and also by taking a manual white balance reading, and overall the results were quite good. We test white balance using a Judge II light box from X-Rite, which produces carefully calibrated illumination recreating the color temperature of a variety of light sources. The resulting images are analyzed using Imatest. More on how we test color.

Automatic White Balance (17.18)

The automatic white balance system did an excellent job compensating for color shifts caused by fluorescent and daylight illumination. Like most of the SLRs we test, it was common incandescent fixtures that gave the K2000 trouble, producing an unnaturally warm result. At least there’s a potential environmental benefit to this effect, since it will encourage Pentax owners to make the shift to compact fluorescents.

Custom White Balance (10.47)

We expect a high level of precision from the manual white balance system in a digital SLR, and rarely find serious flaws in this area. The Pentax K2000 is no exception, producing minimal levels of color error under each tested source of illumination.

Looking at our group of test cameras, we see the automatic white balance system on the K2000 handled daylight illumination nicely, producing inconsequentially cooler results than the ideal.

Under that demanding incandescent lighting, everybody shifted toward the warm side, with the Pentax falling in the middle of the pack.

Between the flicker and the greenish tinge, fluorescent bulbs can be troublesome for an automatic white balance system (witness the Olympus E-30 and Nikon D90 above), but the K2000 produced only minimal color shift.

The overall white balance score combines the results of our preset and custom white balance testing. The K2000 showed some significant muscle here, outperforming both the Nikon D90 and Olympus E-30 to a significant degree, and bested only by the exceptionally accurate Canon 50D.