Settings for a newbie

I really hate being a newbie. I have a kajillion questions, and feel like 99% are too basic to ask/answer.... On that note;

I have 2 UW cameras, a SeaLife D300, and an Olympus C-5000Zoom with housing. I also have a ReefMaster/Sealife SL960 strobe.

I have NEVER taken an UW picture in my life, and for the last 20 years have been nothing more than a family picture-taker. I used to be into photography when I was in my late teens/early 20's, but life took over and I lost touch.

I'll be diving in the Bahamas first weekend in Jan, and want to have some photos for memorabilia, and possibly a couple of shots of the creatures I'll be encountering. I don't expect anything close to the fantastically amazing photos I see here. I'm just hoping for semi-decent shots.

I'm guessing the Oly would be the better of the 2 cameras, coupled with the 960. I was able to rig them together, and the 960 acts properly as a slave unit.

My main question is, is there a basic set of camera settings I should preselect before diving to get the most out of my pics? I'm trying to figure out which setting on the dial I should use, or manually adjust stuff for an all-around shoot.

I think this is probably one of the most basic things I could ask, that may result in a few cool keeper shots.

Thanks!

Good luck!

Don't expect more than a handful of really good images: maybe one a dive (even the pros only get a handful of good images for each hour in the water).

If you have manual settings, use them: if you have a strobe then you can shoot as slow as 1/30 second and keep at f5.6-f8. If you don't like manual settings, use aperture priority with the strobe. If shooting without a strobe, then use shutter priority. Auto white-balance is fine, particularly if you shoot RAW files. If not, I'd still use Auto W/B, but boost saturation, contrast and sharpness in the sttings and shoot the biggest jpegs that you can. If your strobe will handle TTL, then that's a good place to start. Slightly under-exposed images are usually better: think of colour transparencies from the distant past (year 2000).

The presets don't work well underwater (even "underwater" presets) because light is just, well, different beneath the surface.

The key is not the camera settings; it's get close, much closer than you think - a foot is good, but 6" is better - but don't touch the reef.

Use the review function, and shoot an interesting subject with 2 or 3 different exposures, 2 or three angles, 2 or 3 distances: if you shoot six subjects on a dive you will be much happier than if you shoot sixty... but your buddy will long to be in a different ocean!

Tim