Camcorder lighting: On-Camera Lights

Many camcorders come equipped with a built-in light. Though it has more drawbacks than advantages, you can at least use it to throw some extra illumination at your subjects. Nonetheless, you can't really "light" with it, as we think of lighting in this column. So let's see how to squeeze the most functionality out of that tiny jet fighter canopy on the front of your camcorder, and then survey some options for upgrading your on-camera lighting.

First the bad news. Built-in camera lights suffer from three dire faults. First, the same battery that runs your camcorder powers them and they siphon off juice at an alarming rate. Just try shooting an indoor birthday party with that light always on and see how long your battery lasts.

Next, they're a small nay, tiny light source. Small sources are highly directional, though the plastic housings on these units do diffuse the light a little. Directional light casts harsh shadows and, mounted just above the lens, achieves that deer-caught-in-the- headlights look that doesn't do much for your subjects' appearance. When you use small source spotlights on stands with other lights and control them with barn doors and such, they're very useful instruments. But plunked onto the camcorder with no controls, they're as crude as a ball bearing chiseled out of concrete.

Finally, in reasonably bright ambient light, built-in lights are generally too dim to light more than closeups.

Okay, but there it is on your camcorder and you want to use it. The good news is that built-in lights can help out in certain situations. You can use an on-camera light as an "obie," as classical Hollywood called them: a way to add just a bit of zing to a close-up face otherwise lit by available light. The camcorder light can add sparkle to eyes while it lifts the face maybe half an f-stop above the rest of the scene.

Can you soften that closeup by modifying your built-in light? Sure: it runs cool enough so it's safe to tape a piece of old hanky or bed sheet over it for diffusion. The trouble is that spreading the beam reduces the already paltry output even further.

Unless you're trying for a harsh documentary look, make sure that the face is not too much hotter than the rest of the scene. Study your external viewfinder very carefully. If the face is too bright, move back until the light moderates and then zoom in to re-frame the same closeup. If the light is too dim to help, move closer instead.

You can also use a camcorder light in really dark shooting situations, such as outdoors at night. Your camcorder is so sensitive that even the feeble light from its built-in unit will brighten a scene appreciably. The bottom line is, when you don't have enough light for good illumination, a built-in unit can be a help, and hey, it's better than no…