Canon G9 vs. Olympus E-500: exposure and white balance

On an internet message board, I was criticized for not fixing the underexposure and white balance of the photo of the bottle of Johnnie Walker used in my review of the 50mm f/2.0 lens, but I did that intentionally to demonstrate the E-500’s lousy light metering. I didn’t write anything about the auto white balance, but yes, it’s also really bad.

So tonight, I set up the same shot, and took the photo with the Canon G9 point and shoot camera.

First, once again, the photo taken with the Olympus E-500:

And below, almost the same scene, with the same incandescent lighting, taken with the Canon G9 set to auto white balance and no exposure compensation:

The Canon G9 clearly metered the shot a lot better. I’d say it’s still a little underexposed, but the G9 wasn’t tricked as much by the white wall. The G9 also handled the white balance a lot better. On the G9, the wall is closer to a neutral color, and I would say it’s veers in the direction of the correct color the way my own eyes perceive it. When I look at that wall, it does seems slightly orangeish to me the way the G9 picked it up, and not at all red the way the E-500 picked it up.

The following photo has nothing to do with white balance or exposure, but it demonstrates the G9's incredible resolution:

Wow, you can read all of the text on the bottle label! The G9 is clearly the camera to use if you want to make really large prints. See my previous comparison in which I demonstrated how much sharper the G9 is compared to the Olympus E-500.

Comments

[Karl Conner]

Is this a joke or something?

You clearly know nothing about optics or photography in general and here you are reviewing equipment. Incredible!

[A]

I have no clue what you are trying to demonstrate... your inability to take decent pictures says nothing about the metering system of either of those cameras.

And your statement regarding the E500 use in the 50mm lens review is totally nonsense: reviewing a camera and a lens at the same time, is not so smart. experiments on the one, bring down the conclusions on the other.

Just start taking pictures and stop making reviews.

And drink that bottle of whiskey, that way it will server some use!