Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 11:41 AM
Subject: Great Job!
 
Hi Keith!
 
I anxiously waited all day for the UPS truck which finally rolled up at around 5:45 p.m. yesterday. I was more excited than a kid at Christmas! Immediately I tore into the package to find all the equipment very well wrapped and in perfect condition.
 
You did an exceptional job! I am so pleased at how you were able to make everything fit so precisely. I am very impressed that your retrofit surpasses the ingenuity of the original design!
 
What a great design on the camera mount plate and spacer! It so nice that all I have to do is push the plate in as far as it will go. Now I don't need to guess at how far to slide the camera into the housing and there's no guessing on whether the red filter will clear.
 
Thanks to your clever thinking, I am able to change the battery without removing the camera from the housing. How convenient that will be! Since I can also switch the memory card while the camera is housed, I will not need to remove the camera from the housing every day of my vacation. (The salesman at the Sony Style store gave me a USB memory card adapter that will allow me to upload my videos directly from the card to a computer without using the camera.) Preparing for the next day of diving will be so much quicker and easier!
 
I like that the 10-pin wire is longer than the lanc wire for my older camera. It it easier to connect the longer wire while sliding the camera into the housing in conjunction with holding the microphone wire out of the way.
 
The new back cover fits securely with the new latches that you fabricated, and the recess in the cover allows sufficient clearance for the larger "V" battery. If you do more retrofits for the CX500, I would suggest making the battery recess just a bit higher to include extra clearance for the camera mode button located just above the top of the battery. (Before I realized that the mounting plate should slide in all the way until it touches the front of the housing, the back cover was pressing the camera mode button.)
 
I am so happy that you found a way to modify the microphone adapter so that I will still be able to capture underwater sounds along with topside conversations. Not even the more expensive brands of consumer housings offer that feature.
 
Thank you for the extra stick-on Velcro. You are right about the camera window shutting itself, especially when I tilt the housing upwards. I'll work on that today, along with a way to reattach the camera strap.
 
This evening I will be meeting with some friends from my underwater photo club to pool test my camera. When I told them that I will now have the option of using two different cameras in one housing, their jaws dropped! The first thing they mentioned was the reassurance that I will have a backup camera. My video buddies are very interested in seeing what you've accomplished with this retrofit.   
 
I will let you know what I find out about the steady shot feature possibly creating a vignetting issue.
 
We are also going to test out an external close up diopter so that I can do super-macro. If that works out, then I will be able to film nudibranchs and sharks all in the same dive!
 
I can't thank you enough for all your effort, ingenuity, creativity, and persistence in accomplishing this retrofit. I am a very happy customer, and I will do everything I can to send more customers your way!
 
Thanks a million!
Cindy