New to UW photos and need some advice...

I have a used SeaLife DC 500 and need some advice. I have been lurking on this site for sometime and know that not many people like that camera but thats what I have. My main problem is lighting and I am forever trying to get the right light and exposure from the camera and a YS-110 strobe. To further complicate things I do not use air tanks and do all my diving "free". This cuts my setup time to seconds which doesnt help considering the currents I swim in.

Is there a combination of settings that will optimize photos taken with the Sealife camera? I know there isnt a "magic button" setting or anything I just need a good point to start from. Most of the shots I take are less than 10 feet in heavy current and silt flow or along a reef wall where I dont normally go deeper than 20 feet. I am in the water about 4 days a week (I am in Okinawa) so I can test and retest any suggestions that some of you more experienced people might have.

Recently my wife bought me a Sony N2 for normal land picture taking, has anyone used this for water shots? She gave me a choice of the Canon SD900 as well and I can still get that camera if its better. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I will attach some pics from last week and would like some helpful criticism on color, composition etc. I am not trying to win awards or anything, the pictures are for my wife and I to enjoy, thats all.

Can't answer questions about your specific cameras be here are a few key rules.

First NEVER light up the water between you and your subject.

Second get close to your subject. This usually involves getting into macro mode or use a (auxiliary) wide angle lens. No strobe system no matter how powerful or advanced will project light more than 6 to 8 ft UW. So you have to be within this limit. Your strobe probably will only light a subject at most 3 ft away. You may need to get a more powerful strobe. The above mentioned auxiliary wide angle lens will let you get close enough to properly light your subject.

Or use the sun.

Thanks for the info Dave, one of the biggest problems I have is forgetting to put the sun behind me when I am underwater. With all the hard corals and limestone reef shelves there is alot of glare and reflection here.

Looking at the pictures I posted, are they all too illuminated? I have to admit I cant pick out which ones have too much light between the subject and the camera.

Unfortunately my camera wont do Macro worth a hoot and so about the closest I get is 2 or 3 feet from what I am shooting.

So far I have been using the automatic settings on the Sealife and am looking to learn just which settings that would be beneficial to adjust. It seems that here and there I find references on adjsuting ISO, exposure, strobe strenght etc but cant find a particular source to study the relationship between all the factors of shooting a clear, sharp and well-lighted photo.

Any suggestions?