What's the best Auto focus mode to use UW?

Greetings,

I have a Nikon D80 with an Ikelite housing and DS125 strobe. I shoot with a wide angle zoom, Tokina 12-24mm with a 4X diopter.

The Nikon D80 has three area focus selection modes: Single area, Dynamic area, and Auto-focus area focus.

Also, the D80 has three Autofocus modes: Auto-select, single servo, and continuous-servo.

The last dive trip I used single area and Auto-select AF, I got mixed results.

Can anyone recommend the best mode(s) to use UW?

Regards,

I would recommend always using continuous-servo. By default this puts the camera in shutter priority. The default setting for single-servo is for the camera not to fire if it thinks it isn't in focus. This can cause a problem if it is focusing on what you want it focused on, but the camera doesn't think it is what is should be focused on. A few solutions, but the simplest is to use AFS-C.

For the area on my d300, I am not sure of the terminology, but I use the setting the covers the entire focus area (area focus) for wide angle shooting and it seems to work pretty well. For macro shooting I usually use Dynamic area and for very small objects sometimes go all the way down to single area. Some others may have different opinions, but I feel those settings work for me.

don't use auto area, its junk. i use dynamic area and continuous AF, since usually everythings moving UW.

Thanks for the tips.

I will try using continuous servo on my next drive trip, which will be this week in Curaco.