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| AN 18-EYED MONSTER? No, just the LED lighting from a friendly MacromaX LZ3-2 Ultra Macro Zoom lens closing in on you from 0.8X to 2.4X. |
Ask most camera designers what the main weakness in film cameras is and they will tell you: it’s the lack of sufficient battery power. A digital camera designer will complain of power-hungry LCD screens. While I have always campaigned for pop-up flash in both film and digital SLRs, a built-in flash drains battery power disgracefully, cutting the number of pictures per set of batteries at least in half when flash is used 50 percent of the time. And I would say that in practical shooting, use of flash cuts it even further.
Built-in flash is great for moderate use as the sole light or as fill-in flash, but if you’re going to shoot a load of pictures with flash, by all means, buy an accessory flash unit and save your camera batteries from pooping prematurely.
Much research is being poured into the production of less battery-hungry LCDs. Engineers are making considerable progress in not only cutting down energy requirements but also producing screens that are visible in bright sunlight. Cutting down flash power requirements is a tougher problem. Flash designers are investigating whether it’s possible to replace flash tubes with LEDs.
Before you roll on the floor laughing at the idea of LEDs substituting for flash tubes, take a good look at how LEDs have been growing in usage. Once only found in electric appliance warning lights, digital clock numbers, and on SLR finder panels, LEDs have been taking on some amazing new functions, such as forming giant TV screens and illuminating traffic lights.
Being a flashlight enthusiast (and, alas, a collector), I’ve been watching LEDs appear more and more often in flashlights. And the tiny, single-bulb LED flashlights on keychains that I gave as presents during the 2002 holiday season wound up becoming the only lights some of my New York City friends had as they trudged up and down countless skyscraper stairways during last year’s blackout.
Even though some of these flashlight owners went up and down stairs many times, their flashlights never dimmed, and I haven’t yet heard of one with burned-out batteries.
The batteries in my own, larger-LED flashlights using AA or C alkaline cells last 10 times longer than my incandescent-bulb flashlights. The beams of these flashlights are so strong that they can even hurt your eyes if you look at them directly.
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