Now that the SKII has a simple LED flash that emits a pulse of light during the integrated camera's exposure, it may be possible to have that burst of light trigger an external flash unit. It would be handy to have a small pocketable add-on LED flash like the MPF-10 pictured above for camera-enabled Sony Ericsson phones. Expansys currently sells the accessory for $16.95. A little Googling reveals that this little LED flash might be a Luxeon device powered by a Maxim MAX1583 White LED Camera-Flash Boost Converter chip. The MPF-10 would need to draw power from batteries or the USB port. A photo-detector and optoisolator circuit could sense the light pulse and close a circuit to trigger the LED flash, or even cooler, trip any off-the-shelf photo flash unit small or large. I'm throwing this info out to the Lazyweb for those with some EE skills and some extra time.

Also, take a look at this illustrated discussion on LED vs. Xenon Flash for camera phones.

- mike lee - baltimore