High Powered Light for a camcorder, a new idea, does it exist?

Question

I need a high powered light for a camcorder. The trick is the camcorder does not have any attachments for one.

My question is, does a light exist that can attach via the s***w hole for a camera stand.

Every Camera/Camcorder has a hole at the bottom for attachment to stands, has anyone exploited this to create a truley universal light that attaches as such. I think it is a great idea and would love to get one, my dinky camera only as a little led for light.

Answer 1

You have the right idea.  Just search for "video light bracket" - for example:

http://yahoo-ssp-cnet.com.com/digital-ca...

Answer 2

most quality cameras and camcorders have a bracket on the top side called a "shoe". this is where you attach the light or flash unit. But unless your camcorder has a very big and heavy battery, it will not power a lamp, that's why the LED was provided.. While it may not look bright, the LED puts out a lot of IR radiation which the camcorder "sees" as if it were visible light. Putting a light on the bottom of the camcorder will not work good because it will cast shawdows in the upward direction. ie a person's nose will cast a shadow up on his forehead. humerous at best. we are used to the sun being above us, so shadows falling downard are more acceptable.

There is another reason that aparatus is rarely attached to the tripod mount (the hole you mentioned.) Most people don't regularly use a tripod for shooting. Larger camcorders are shoulder held and smaller are handheld. Either way, putting something on the tripod mount would severely interfer with holding the camera.

If you regularly need more light, take a portable light fixture with you, either a camping type battery unit, or a clamp on AC powered lamp.

FYI, what you propose was actually made in the 8mm home movie days. Film required the equivalent of outdoor light when used inside. They made a unit that had two flexible goosenect type wings each with a reflector flood lamp attached. The wings allowed the lamps to be lifted up above the camera position and the center piece attached to a tripod on the bottom and mounted the camera on the top. It was very cumbersome at best, but it did provide enough light to shoot objects that were not more than 10 feet away. Ran off household AC current of course.