fuji f40 settings

[Secondopsman]

Im off to st abbs this weekend with Arfie and im wanting to try out my new fuji f40.I do however have a few questions i hope you can help me with,
Can anyone tell me are you better of just using the underwater setting on the camera (from what i can see in this mode everything is in auto inc white balance and iso settings) or should i use the manual setting and set the white balance on my slate as ive read on other YD threads and what do i do with the iso settings.
Any suggestions or comments would be greatly recieved
Thanks
Pete

[David P]

Anticipated depth? Type of subject - scenery or close-up? I assume no supplementary strobe etc.

I'd personally ignore the UW mode - stick with eg 200 or 400 ISO (or "auto to 400 ISO max) - and either manual white balance, or be prepared to do some work on post-processing colour etc. Make sure you're set to best quality.

Good luck!

[Secondopsman]

Anticipated depth? Only qualified to 18m at present will be doing my advanced later in year.
Type of subject - scenery or close-up? Bit of both really (fish, starfish, plus anything that stays stilllong enough for me to switch it on and set it up

I assume no supplementary strobe etc. Just the camera thats enough for me to work with at present i think

Thanks for the reply
Pete

[Cussy]

For wideangle, as said go ISO upto 400, turn flash off, and manual WB. The underwater setting can make images blue in UK and it looks odd. When doing close-up, you can get away with lower ISO, but the camera may automatically lower the ISO anyway.

Take a look at other people's St Abbs shots and try and rip off their ideas.
Rob

PS if you get a friendly Wrasse, all you need to do is look like you are going to pick up an urchin and they will pose for ages. If you do crack open an urchin, which many on here might frown upon, you will find the visibility soon goes down and you get awful back-scatter!!

[infernalzen]

as dave says - wb auto or calibrated wb when youre more happy.
an external light source? even a torch might help the scenes overall light.
either that or exretemely good stability for longer exposurers.
depending on sediment in the water, strobes off angle form your camera produce good results but at a large cost.

take loads of picts (the beauty of dig) +enjoy
no one is a diving david baley to start with.

[Metal Micky]

I myself had my new F50 in at St Abbs last weekend, I'm a virgin snapper too. Had some excellent close up results just on full auto and in macro mode. Distance shots were poor due to the back scatter. The beauty of these cameras is you can experiment and take loads of shots and bin them later if they don't turn out well. Snap away and experiment.

[Cussy]

I myself had my new F50 in at St Abbs last weekend, I'm a virgin snapper too. Had some excellent close up results just on full auto and in macro mode. Distance shots were poor due to the back scatter. The beauty of these cameras is you can experiment and take loads of shots and bin them later if they don't turn out well. Snap away and experiment.

Don't use the on-camera flash for wide-angle. St Abbs is shallow enough to get good natural light shots.
Rob