Helge Wurst's LEDCard Puts a Macro Photography Adapter and Ring Light in Your Wallet

Maker Helge "MisterHW" Wurst has put together a handy tool for the photography enthusiast, designed to offer improved lighting and focus for macro photography without the bulk: the credit card-sized LEDCard, which slots right into your wallet.

"Ideas," Wurst writes of the first LEDCard prototype, developed back in 2017: "LED ring light; macro lens; battery-powered; notches to be able to fix it to a device with rubber bands. [But] the LED efficiency [was] too low, CR2032 batteries inadequate, inrush current may lead to contact degradation of the push-button over time, [and the] rubber band idea turned out to be more of a fight than a feature."

Over the years, Wurst continued to tool around with the idea, swapping the paired CR2032 cells of the original design to LIR2430 rechargeable lithium-ion button cells, adding USB charging, adjustable brightness, while dropping the band-notches of the initial prototype.

The core concept, however, remains unchanged: a macro lens, mounted in a cutout at the board's center, turns any smartphone camera into a close-up camera — while a rough ring of surface-mount LEDs encircle it to provide even lighting from all directions.

The whole board is designed to be small enough to slide into a wallet, providing portable macro-photography capabilities without the bulk. Its precise optical specifications depend on the lens fitted, with the creator having tested three plano-convex acrylic lenses successfully: One offering +49mm, one +65mm, and one +120mm.

Wurst has released the schematics, design files, and Gerbers for the LEDCard on GitHub under an unspecified open source license on his GitHub repository. Anyone looking to make their own, however, may want to wait for a planned but not yet released redesign that resolves a flaw in which the battery can be discharged and destroyed if the test button gets held down during transportation or storage.