DSC-W320 compact camera advice

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pobalopalous

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5
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Location
Ireland
# of dives
50 - 99
On a tight budget but wanted to get into underwater photography. Bought a housing for an old DSC-W320 compact camera we've had for years. It does have a basic preset white balance setting for underwater pictures.

Having read articles about using compact cameras underwater, I set the ISO to 100 and EV to -2.0. I have a few things I'm looking for advice on:

1. Can I save the ISO and EV settings?
Every time the camera goes on standby I have to go back into the menu settings for ISO and EV again because they default to AUTO and 0 respectively. Can I change that?

2. How can focus / sharpness be improved?
I'm not always diving in crystal clear water with lots of ambient light and I've found that the auto focus doesn't always work. If I introduce a wide beam light it sometimes help, but more often then not just over exposes the shot.

3. False economy?
The only expense so far has been on the housing. I'm thinking of adding a tray with flexible arm to mount my wide beam light. Is this going to make any improvement? Is the use of an compact camera, or my lack of experience, going to be the limiting factor here?

Of course, if you have any additional advice on getting the most out of a compact camera I'd love to hear it.

Many thanks!

Peter
 
1. This is likely a camera limitation. I am unsure what you read to recommend EV -2.0.

2. You need light! Strobes or video lights at minimum.

3. The tray and any lighting will be usable for any future cameras.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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