I think someone already tried running the unit off a variable power supply so they could save on batteries and dim the LEDs. Problem that arose was the regulator was getting rather toasty.
Luxeon have a purpose built driver for their LEDs but that's how the price of the LED on camera lights gets pushed up, the Luxeon LEDs are expensive and then you've got a fair bit of electronics as you need one driver per LED.
I notice a lot of sellers on eBay using the name Luxeon but I wonder if that's genuine or not. Luxeon just won a patent fight with a competitor so it's quite likely these factories in China are not paying for the IP.

"I guess you can't complain for the price although I feel for anyone who paid USD 150 for one. "


...yeah yeah yeah....

I managed to get two of these when my dad came back from Hong Kong. The price there is better if you buy retail there (no shipping, no inflated shipping charges compared to eBay).

It seems to put out a lot of light compared to other battery-powered incandescent or fluorescent.

Just looking to see what is available locally http://www.smartlite.com.au/welcome/docs/Section8.pdfcommercial LED disk lghts[/link] and note that their white LEDs are 3500 to 4500 K. Much of their gear is halogen lamp replacement (not photographic). One of the issues to be dealt with in my Chinese camping light is heat dissipation. It has no heat sinks so this alone sets a limit to the permissible continuous current (memo to self re power supply).

There's heaps of white LEDs for sale on eBay out of China if you want to roll your own. There's also all manner of replacement lamps that fit standard fittings, in 12V or 240V. I bought a couple for a display cabinet. Sure not a bright as the halogens they replaced but such little power used we leave them om 24/7 for the roaches to see their way.
The Luxeon star LEDs are harder to find although Oatley Electronics has them from time to time and a green energy co-op in Melbourne sometimes buys them in bulk for members.
One problem with some of the LEDs from China is the CT is different from one LED to the next, just buy a cheap 101 LED torch off eBay to see what I mean, actually that probably the cheapest source of white LEDs.

Genn is right too some of these cheaper LEDs are now putting out huge amounts of light, upto 0.1 Candella.

Bob.

Just found this reply on dvinfo.net from Mark Ditmanson of Flolight regarding their MicLight:
-----------------------------------
Hi Everyone,

This is Mark Ditmanson of Flolight. I saw this thread and thought I should clear things up on the MicLight. The inspiration for the MicLight came from a camping light we saw on EBay. We bought one and thought what a great idea. The problem with it is that the LEDs are very low quality and have a color temperatue of 12000 Kelvin making video bluish and are not very bright.

With the right LEDs we thought it would be a terrific product. So we purchased the bare shells and had ultra bright 5600 Kelvin LEDs installed. High quality 5600 Kelvin color balanced LEDs aren't cheap and the hand soldering of 48 LEDs also adds to the MicLight's higher price.

The MicLight can also be corrected to tungsten with a CTO (color temperature orange) gel cut into a donut shape to fit over the light. It's also handy to use a diffusion material like opal or tuffspun to diffuse the light so that it is not too glaring for interviews. These techniques are used with all camera mounted lights. We will be offering a kit soon that includes the color correction and diffusion filters for those that can't find or don't want to cut the gels themselves.

In a nutshell the deal is this: if you are doing pro quality work and are concerned about accurate color quality and need a bright light buy the MicLight. If you are an amateur and just want a cheap light to bring up light levels a bit and a bluish cast doesn't bother you pick up a camping light.

We understand the confusion with the cheap LED camplights out there and wanted to clear this up - we hoped this helped. If anyone has any questions please give our office a call at (408)866-9100 or send me an email at mark@prompterpeople.com

Best Regards,
Mark Ditmanson
Flolight/Prompter People

I wonder if anyone whose bought one of those genuine mic lights can confirm that the LEDs have been replaced and if the light has a better color temperature than the $5 version?


Bob.

I bought one of the "48 LED camping lights" from ebay for around $15, incl. shipping, from Hong Kong. It arrived a few weeks later in excellent shape, complete with 3 zinc-carbon batteries.
I noticed that it's doughnut hole was a little larger than the outer diameter of the 37 mm filters that I use on my camcorder when the light's cover is removed. So I used a hot-melt glue gun to glue the light to a UV filter and screwed it onto my HC1. It should make a tolerable light for interviews, etc. (use an external mic - the light probably would adversely affect the sound from the built-in mic), and is very lightweight for travelling.
I haven't yet tested it to see how long the batteries last, but I have a dozen rechargeable AA's from a home-made video light that uses LEDs, so I could simply pop in 3 new batteries whenever the light dims.
I was a little concerned that I might bump something and damage my camera, but these cameras are made to accept accessory lenses, and my Sony telephoto lense and wide-angle lense both are quite large and heavy, so mounting the light by using the threads on a UV filter shouldn't pose more of a risk than the lenses.
The solder joints are poorly made in the light - none of the wires are wrapped around the tiny solder lugs - solder alone holds the wire in place. For that reason, I plan to use a hole cutter in my drill to enlarge the hole in the light's cover sufficiently so that I can put it back in place. That will destroy the locking mechanism on the light's cover, so I'll need to tape it into place. I'd also like to run wires out to an external battery so that I could go longer without the need to change batteries.
Informal testing indicates tolerable color when manually white-balanced. All-in-all, it's a handy light for those who have camcorders with 37 mm threads.