Every so often, someone asks about camera color accuracy, and as far as I know, the only metric which describes this sort of thing is the Sensitivity Metamerism Index, or SMI; it’s a part of ISO standard 17321 and is described here.
Usually, higher SMI numbers are better, but this test does absolutely nothing to evaluate automatic color balance or the accuracy of presets, which in my option is the primary factor that goes into good color, at least for JPEG output. Also, this measure does not tell us what colors are good or poor, nor does it measure anything outside of a very limited dataset. This metric tells us nothing about pleasing colors versus accurate colors.
An interesting discussion on this metric can be found on this thread from 2014:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/53048063
This table lists the 50 highest rated cameras from DxO with regards to SMI. This table lists two DxO values for SMI: D50 for daylight, and CIE-A for incandescent; typically, both camera accuracy (as well as camera calibration) changes for each type of light source.
SMI D50,SMI CIE-A,Model name
88,81,Canon EOS 1000D, DIGITAL REBEL XS or Kiss F
87,82,Sony Alpha 900
86,83,Sony Alpha 230
85,84,Nikon D60
85,84,Nikon D40
86,82,Sony SLT Alpha 65
86,82,Sony SLT Alpha 77
85,83,Sony Alpha 330
85,83,Nikon D40X
84,84,Nikon D70s
84,84,Nikon D70
87,80,Canon EOS 50D
86,81,Olympus E520
85,82,Sony SLT Alpha 35
85,82,Canon EOS 1D Mark II
84,83,Nikon D50
86,80,Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III
86,80,Canon EOS 1D Mark III
85,81,Nikon D7200
85,81,Sony SLT Alpha 58
85,81,Sony SLT Alpha 99
85,81,Pentax KM
85,81,Sony NEX-6
84,82,Nikon D300
84,82,Canon EOS 1D Mark II N
83,83,Nikon D700
85,80,Nikon 1 J4
85,80,Sony Alpha 450
85,80,Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II
85,80,Sony NEX-3
85,80,Sony NEX-7
84,81,Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1
85,79,Nikon 1 V3
84,80,Sony SLT Alpha 55
84,80,Sony Alpha 500
84,80,Sony Alpha 550
84,80,Canon EOS 5D
84,80,Sony NEX-5N
83,81,Canon EOS 20D
84,79,Sony A7 II
84,79,Sony SLT Alpha 37
84,79,Sony Alpha 560
84,79,Nikon D200
84,79,Olympus E410
84,79,Sony NEX5
83,80,Nikon D4s
83,80,Sony SLT Alpha 57
83,80,Sony SLT Alpha 33
82,81,Sony Alpha 100
80,83,Canon EOS 300D, DIGITAL REBEL or Kiss Digital
Notice that a lot of older cameras are near the top of the list, and this seems to vindicate some photographers who believe that their older cameras deliver better colors than their newer ones. I’ve noticed that over time, Nikon and Canons have shifted from high SMIs to lower ones after 2008, I think in order to improve high ISO ability, but notice some recent cameras showing improvement.
And here are those at the bottom:
76,72,Leica M9
76,72,Nikon Coolpix A
76,72,Olympus XZ1
76,72,Panasonic Lumix DMC GF1
75,73,DxO ONE
75,73,Canon EOS 7D Mark II
74,74,Canon EOS 760D
75,72,Canon PowerShot S95
75,72,Leica M9 P
75,72,Panasonic Lumix DMC LX5
73,74,Canon EOS 1Dx
80,66,Phase One P40 Plus
76,70,Canon Powershot G11
75,71,Leica M Typ 240
75,71,Panasonic Lumix DMC G5
74,72,Canon PowerShot G7 X
74,72,Samsung EX1, Samsung TL500
73,73,Canon EOS 650D
73,73,Canon EOS Rebel T3i, EOS 600D
76,69,Phase One P65 Plus
75,70,Pentax 645D
75,70,Hasselblad H3DII 39
74,71,Fujifilm FinePix X S1
74,70,Sony Alpha 700
75,67,Nikon D2H
75,67,Canon EOS M
73,69,Nikon Coolpix P7100
72,69,Phase One P45 Plus
71,69,Nikon Coolpix P7000
69,70,Canon EOS 6D
73,64,Canon EOS 100D
73,64,Mamiya ZD Back
68,66,Leica M8
64,63,Nokia Lumia 1520
But this excludes most smartphone and compact cameras.