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 ΔE*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.