I think I have a schematic I am happy with to drive either an LED or laser module.
The 3.3V from the camera comes from the Remote Shutter connection on the side of the camera. One of the pins puts out 3.3v continuously, and when the shutter button is 1/2 pressed, the 3.3v drops to 0v. The op-amp is a buffer to separate the camera from the circuit, and to provide no load on the camera connection.
The pnp transistor turns on when the voltage is 0Volts at the base, and turns off when the voltage starts to increase. The potentiometer injects a little voltage into the transistor allowing for some control of the brightness.
Will build this on the weekend and will comment on how well it worked out.
The op-amp is a low power op-amp (NJU7016D) which will work down to 1V. To get a constant 3V supply to the circuit I’ll use a step up DC-DC converter (893-1150-1) which will take anything from 2-6V and convert it to 3V. So I can use rechargable Ni-MH batteries without a problem. I suppose I could use Ni-MH batteries but the light output will not be as bright. Will need to test this.
