That might be do-able. The capacity of 9V batteries are around 450mAH I think.
Arranging the LEDs in pairs and connecting each pair in series will consume 80mA when 8 LEDs are turned on. The battery life is roughly 5 hours in that case, and halfed for the 16 LED case.
if it's any encouragement, i think that's a very useful product to have, especially if you can come up with one for film SLRs lens. i know i wouldn't mind forking out $50 for something like that... :thumbsup: