Settings for the Olympus 770SW

[Gcrackr]

I have cobbled together (on the cheap) an Olympus 770sw, PT-035 housing, Oly UFL-1 strobe with a Sea & Sea optical cable. I am a newbie at underwater photography and have only used the setup one time with mixed results. I am looking for tips get to the best photos possible in the shortest amount of time with the equipment I have.
The questions:
Camera Settings: What settings on the camera generally will give me the best results? Shoot in “P” mode with defaults for ISO, WB etc or override some of the settings? If so, which ones? Do the “SCN” modes (Underwater Snapshot, Wide1, Wide2, Macro) work well? Use the “SCN” modes with the defaults for ISO, WB etc or override some of these?

Strobe: So far, I have always set the camera with forced flash (regardless of the conditions/situation) and TTL mode for the strobe. I have aimed the strobe slightly away from the subject so no backscatter problems. Would there be situations that I should NOT set the flash to forced (i.e. “Auto” )?? Or set to no flash??

So far, I have only used “Underwater 1” mode with the default settings, except for the flash, which I have set to forced. This was in tropical water with very good viz. It is interesting that the LCD indicates macro for this mode (the flower icon), but the photos seem to be OK with respect to focus regardless of whether the shot was macro or wide angle. The photos have come out clear, but I am not getting much red in overall reef type shots (i.e. wide angle) and they are very blue overall.

Tips and comments from current or former 770SW users appreciated.

 

[Nemrod]

I still have mine, still use it for beach diving and boat, kayak use. I usually set to one of the UW modes or cloudy. I use program. I set my flash to on and run my D2000 strobe (if using it) in sTTL. If the subject is out of flash range or I am shooting a wide, shallow reef top with my Inon UFL165AD then I may not use the flash and turn it to off. It is an easy camera to shoot and gives good results for the purpose. I also usually set to ISO100.

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[fins]

I had a 770sw with Oly housing and Inon WAL and Inon D-180. Nice compact setup that felt great but did not like how the 770 performed underwater. I tried A priority and manual but just could not get the kind of results I expected. Good luck.

 

[Nemrod]

I tried A priority and manual but just could not get the kind of results I expected. Good luck.

Mine does not have Manual, only Auto and Program. Here are a few photos typical of the 770SW:

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[Latitude 59]

Had a 770SW, found best results when set on cloudy, step up screw on adaptor for red filter for non strobe shots greatly improved things. Used UW settings, depending on distance/subject.

 

[MJSmith]

I still have a 770, but had troubles with too many blurred shots. I upgraded to 8000. I still use my 770 for a boat back up. I only used the UW 1 settings on both the 770 and 8000.

 

[ocdiver1]

I still have that camera and housing for my backup. One thing I'd check out when shooting super macro is the macro button with the flashflight symbol next to it. It shoots a beam of light that stays on for the photo that is great for superclose shots (camera flash is off for this setting).