Comparison of the accuracy of different white balancing options as quantified by their color constancy

Six different methods for white-balancing digital images were compared in terms of their ability to produce white-balanced colors close to those viewed under a specific viewing illuminant. The six methods were: native camera RGB, XYZ, CAM02, ITU Rec BT.709 RGB, sharpened camera RGB, and illuminant-dependent. 4096 different sets of camera sensitivities were synthesized; 170 objects were evaluated under a canonical viewing illuminant (D65) and six additional taking illuminants (A, D50, D75, F2, F7, and F11). Each white balancing method was exercised in turn, and the mean and 90th percentile ∆E*ab were determined. We found that illuminant-dependent characterization produced the best results, sharpened camera RGB and native camera RGB were next best, XYZ and CAM02 were often not far behind, and balancing in the -709 primaries was significantly worse. We recommend that, whenever the illuminant is identified, the illuminant-dependent technique be employed because of its superior performance.