The staff at Oceans Below is very excited about the new Sony AVCHD cameras in the office. The two new Sony HDR-XR500 cameras that we use for the BSAC HD underwater videography course come equipped with AVCHD. What does that mean? AVCHD stands for Advanced Video Codec High Definition.

AVCHD is high definition camcorder video format jointly developed by Panasonic and Sony for use in consumer camcorders. Specifically, it's a form of video compression that allows the large data files created by HD video recording to be captured and saved on digital media such as hard disk drives and flash memory cards. The new 1/3.15-inch, back-illuminated Exmor-R CMOS sensor, which Sony is featuring in its top two models, the HDR-XR500 and HDR-XR520. The new sensor design moves the photodiode from beneath the circuitry wires to above; presumably less interference will mean improved sensitivity, particularly in low light conditions. Camcorders with the new sensor will also be capable of capturing 12-megapixel still photos! The six-blade aperture G-lens from Sony, will make its way to the top consumer models, as well as Sony's new built-in GPS and geo-tagging feature. These cameras also have a huge 3.2"/8cm LCD. Very nice indeed.