Best settings for Canon A540

I have just purchased the above camera for my husband, and unlike my Canon it does now have camera raw setting, so I wonder if anyone can tell me if it is best to leave the camera in auto setting and use the underwater mode or does anyone use this camera and have a better setting please

I think, but am not certain, that the UW mode is the same as changing the WB to underwater on my A610. Your camera might give you both options? one on the dial and the other in the WB menu? I would suggest using it on P with underwater WB as opposed to setting it to underwater on the dial as that would then put the camera into full time auto on the other features such as ISO.

The underwater White Balance mode works quited nicely for "wide angle" shooting with no strobe. I would set it on P and set the exposure to -1. Use the UW WB mode for things further than 2 feet away and when wanting to get "the big picture" be sure to turn off your flash as well.

For things closer than 2 feet i would suggest putting it back to Auto WB and using forced flash.

many thanks this is helpful, I shall now have a look at the WB settings

regards Pam