Benefiting from the rapid advances in related technologies, digital camcorders have not only been significantly improved in image resolution and sampling frequency, but also become much more popular because of friendly operation and reduced cost. Consequently, the technique of digital photometry has recently been attempted for its possible application in the measurement and identification of various physical quantities. This paper is aimed to develop the application of consumer grade digital camcorders in the ambient vibration measurements of structures. Furthermore, several problems and corresponding solutions in identifying the modal frequencies based on these measurements are also explored. The proposed digital photometry technique has been successfully applied in the on-site ambient vibration measurements for the stay cables of Chi-Lu Bridge and the subsequent identified results of modal frequencies clearly verify that it hold almost the same order of accuracy as that with high-resolution velocimeters.