I was shooting yesterday and I was dialing in the white balance by manually shifting the color temperature on the dials.... what are the advantages/disadvantages of doing this compared to white cards?

If you use a white card you will get the correct WB for that time of the day, by dialing in the K you can manually change that. For example if you are shooting in the middle of the day but you want the light to appear warmer then you can dial in the desired temp. This can also be done by using WB cards... i.e use a slightly blue card to make the shot warmer or use a slightly red card to make it cooler.

Cheers

Jon

thanks for the info

I was shooting yesterday and I was dialing in the white balance by manually shifting the color temperature on the dials.... what are the advantages/disadvantages of doing this compared to white cards?

Advantage: Greater degree of control over color temperature in your image.
Disadvantage: If you don't know what you're doing you can get into trouble. Also, doing a normal WB with a warm card is probably quicker.

Depends on your shooting needs.

I personally prefer dialing in the temperature. The result is, in my experience, far less color correction to match two shots together from different days. Maybe that's just because I suck at card WB. :)

Brandon
I'm curious what modifications to white balance and other setting do you perform to match up the XH-A1 to the Z1.?

Using a white card also takes possible non-kelvin related color hues into account. Like light from fluorescents, reflections from walls etc. Can not correct & adjust for those with color temperature adjustments only.