Patent ID: 7740371

Claim:
An electronic camera and LED-illumination apparatus, comprising: a housing of such compact size and low weight as to be suitable for single-handed portable operation by a user, and configured to hold a battery; an imaging device mounted to the housing, wherein the imaging device is configured to generate an electronic image signal based on light gathered during a time window; at least one LED mounted to the housing; and a control circuit having an electronic switch operatively coupled to alternately connect and disconnect electrical power from the battery to the control circuit, such that the control circuit selectively applies electrical power from the battery to the at least one LED in synchrony with the time window during which light is gathered, wherein the control circuit controls LED light output to obtain an accumulated light input characteristic to the imaging device as a voltage of the battery varies over a range that would otherwise vary the light input characteristic by adjusting a proportion of connect time to disconnect time of the electronic switch.