White balance and colour
Although most white balance systems in today’s cameras are accurate in the majority of situations, I have been impressed by the quality and control of Olympus models in this area for some time.
There are no individual colours that really fool the system, and the extensive range of white balance settings includes a manual Kelvin adjustment and an underwater preset.
As with most systems, scenes with any single colour dominant in the frame can throw the colour balance. In such a situation, taking a custom white balance is best, and doing so is about as simple as it gets. You simply select custom white balance, take a photograph of a white card and then accept the suggested adjustment.
The colour modes total 18 in all, including 11 art filters. For single-frame shooting, the vivid preset adds a welcome bit of saturation to colours, especially in low light where the colour depth decreases. Natural, though, is a good option for lifelike colours in most situations. A really handy feature is bracketing, and it is available for both white balance and colour. Recording all 18 colour modes in a single press of the shutter release button does hinder the speed of the camera, as it processes the high volume of data.
Images: The four thirds format has a greater depth of field than larger formats, which makes it ideal for macro photography. This image was taken with the 12-50mm kit lens in its macro setting at f/16 (equivalent to f/32 on full frame)
