11:00AM
FotoMagico 3 Review
A few years ago, I needed to quickly put together a slide show and I needed it to look fantastic. While I knew this was possible in iMovie, it took a lot of time and, frankly, didn't look that good.
On a whim I downloaded the trial version of FotoMagico. Within five minutes, I had my wallet out and purchased a license. Since then, I've used FotoMagico often for family and professional events. Indeed, my wife will volunteer me as the "slideshow guy" at weddings for friends and family at the drop of a hat. I can't really complain that much however because using FotoMagico for this is really quite easy.
The latest version, FotoMagico 3, adds several enhancements. FotoMagico produces professional quality slideshow presentations. It is very easy to operate with a similar "drag-and-drop" paradigm you see across the Mac platform. Take a folder full of pictures and drag it in FotoMagico and you have your slideshow. The application allows you to easily set transitions and animates individual slides with the Ken Burns effect. FotoMagico has sliders sliders for the before and after position of your photographs that make this very simple.
My workload has always been to drag the pictures in, sort them, adjust the Ken Burns effect for each picture, and drop in music. It really is that simple. You can similarly adjust rotation and insert text.
The newest version blurs the lines between FotoMagico as a slideshow application and a video application. You can now insert movies in your slideshows. You can set start and end points and even animate movies just as you would a photograph. Organizing and creating your slideshows is also now easier with an improved storyboard. Now that Boinx has teased me with this video support however, I'd like to see them take it further. Lower thirds would be very useful.
Another nice feature is the Aperture exporter plug in.
With the pro version you can get much more control over the audio. You can include multiple tracks and even the voiceover track. Each is independently controlled and adjusted.
While putting pictures in iMovie is much easier now, for speed, granular control of the Ken Burns effect, and overall presentation, I think FotoMagico still has iMovie beat.
Once you have created your slideshow, you can export it, burn it to a DVD, turn it into a screensaver, or put it on your iPod or Apple TV. Of course you can also just play it through the built-in player. This is normally how I do my wedding slideshows. The best compliment paid to this application is by the "official" photographers at the weddings I have participated in. They always ask me afterwards how I did it and they always want to know where they can get their own copy of FotoMagico. A single-user license is $29 and a single-user license for the pro version is $149. You can find out more at Boinx.com.
You can listen to this review on the Mac ReviewCast #215.
Reader Comments (37)
I have told all and sundry of the wonder of Fotomagico for the past two years and this version seems to have all I'd want but really the Pro price is far too high even via upgrade, hasn't anyone told the devs there's a recession? I love this app but its one purpose not a suite and $89 for the -upgrade- is more than iLife or iWork costs.
Well, when you can start at $30 and move up to a pro-version that does so much, so well, I sure won't quibble about the price. I've used FM since version 1.5, and the constant pace of upgrades and improvements keeps me excited! One of the most important features is "share" where you can export to almost anything you want to, and, these guys really know how to make good video...which is really the core strength of FM!
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Bye R@y
I really like FotoMagico until they upgraded it to 3.0. With this version they took a lot of the standard features such as the ability to make a standalone application to play your slideshow in version 2 and put them in the so called FotoMagico 3 Pro version. And with the so so called Pro version, a higher price tag. The update price from Standard 2.0 to 3.0 pro is $88, which is outrageous for current owners of the standard to pay for "extras" that were in found in the version 2 standard.
I love Fotomagico since versión 1, but it's true, the new upgrade are very expensive. So I will use version 2 and Final Cut Express to get the same... and more.
I think the upgrade price from 2.0 Express to 3.0 Pro is OK. What bothers me is that the upgrade from 2.0 Pro to 3.0 Pro is also $89. Huh? If it were $49 I would have upgraded already. At that price I won't upgrade until they day I'm ready to use it and need the new features.
How do you like it better than iPhoto slideshow or iMovie slideshows? Are the HD and standalone shares better than the quality after sending to iDVD. Recently since ilife 08 when I share from iPhoto slideshow the burned DVD colors are way off. Faces are too red. I have searched everywhere and cannot find an answer. I have started sharing to .mov and emailing or putting on thumb drive to be played in QT for Mac or PC. iLife 06 burned DVDs fine for me. It can be especially ugly with scans or Raw photo files. I am hoping this is where FotoMagico will out perform iPhoto or iMovie. Any idea? Trying to justify $149 which does seem high priced given that iLife is considerably cheaper. I try to use Apple products, but am tired of the poor quality slideshows after sending to iDVD. THey look fine until burned to DVD.
@Julie You probably don't need the pro version. I would download a trial and make a quick slideshow and burn it to iDVD and see if that is any better.
I'm in the process of trying Fotomagico...it's okay....but compared to what I was using on my Dell PC...NO COMPARISON! I have been bombarding Photodex to make a ProShow Producer for the MAC!! That software can't be beat!!! You literally controll every aspect of every picture!!! I LOVE IT! If you have a secondary computer which is a PC...give it a try and let me know what you think! I'm not even bothering with iMovie or any of the other....when/if Photodex comes out with their "Producer" software for Mac....I'M ALL OVER IT!!!!! Why are we Mac owners the "red-headed step-child" of computers when there are surprising SO MANY OF US? The Apple store is ALWAYS crowded with folks walking out with various products. Has Apple heard there is a "recession"? I think not! Given the cost of their products....that says something!
I would like to know whether one can export the finished slideshow if fotomagico to a digital picture frame?
I have iPhoto 09 – Can I export the iPhoto 09 slideshow with music that I make to a digital photo frame (that supports music of course ) ?
And which Mac compatible digital photo frame do you suggest or have had good experience with ? I’d like one with high quality picture resolution. Thanks very much for any help
blurij@gmail.com
I have FotoMagico Pro 3.0 and feel it's worth every cent because it does what I need quickly and easily. Boinx Software really listens to customers, and their support is excellent. I was one of those who asked Boinx to add video... and now it's there! I asked if they could support the newer Elgato Turbo.264 HD video encoder... and they did! I do sometimes use Keynote to create special-effect titles -- then I save them as a QuickTime movie and import the movie into FotoMagico. Here are a couple examples of slideshows I've done with FotoMagico:
http://www.vimeo.com/5649968
http://www.vimeo.com/4856242
Dave P.
Massachusetts
I would have to agree with Dave. I just did three slideshows with it last weekend and they were both easy and spectacular.
@Pete,
It would have to be a picture frame capable of playing movies. I think there are a few of those out there.
I wonder...can one put in captions controlling color and shape on each pic via Keynote, and then importing that project into Fotomagico to add music and transitions? (Photodex ProShow Producer you can do all that in the one program, plus you have more control with the "Ken Burns" type of zoom!)
I would like to join the group of FM lovers. FM is a great application. However, after coming back from a safari with a 30 GB and bigger slideshow (contains slides and videos from Canon 5D Mark II) which looks fantastic in FM I have problems saving the file. FM is crashing at the end of the saving process.
Anybody with similar experience and with an idea how to solve it?
I found the above very informative and on the basis I purchased Fotomagico 3.0 Home version. Basically I wanted to do the odd slideshow of my photos that I could share with interested friends. Quality of the photos is all important so I have come to the conclusion (bu am happy to be proved wrong) that it would be best to provide a file to be viewed on the computer (Mac or PC) rather tnah TV which is not a problem for the recipients. However it seems that to do this I need the Pro version of Fotomagico - is this correct? I was really really disappointed with the quality on playback in the home version (very very jerky and my photos looked like something off an instant camera). I don't really want to stump up for Pro unless I can be guaranteed the quality is what I am after. I was hoping for something thing that would playback on my Mac in the same quality as per an iphoto slideshow. Thanks so much for all past and future advice.
@Deb - I believe Photodex is working on a Mac version. Yes, I undertand it offers many more options but do you really want to use Windows? I regularly create sequences in Keynote, save them at QuickTime videos, and place them on the FotoMagico timeline. Best of both worlds.
@Hermann and @Robyn - Have you tried contacting Boinx support at support@boinx.com? Their support techs are EXCELLENT at responding and helping.
Hiya,
I wondered if anyone knows if there is a function where once you have your images it automatically puts the images into an automated slideshow? I know you can randomise animation but I haven't found anything where you can randomise the transitions so it does it for you too.
I do a lot of slideshows and this would save so much time?
If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.
Thanks
Julie
Hi everyone,
my name is Tino from Boinx Software and I would be more than happy if anyone having problems with FotoMagico 3 would contact me. I'll try to respond to your emails as soon as possible.
before you start writing me your problems, please make sure that you are using the current latest version of FotoMagico, that is available. The current latest version always can be found here: http://www.boinx.com/download/
Thanks for your time and write me at support[at]boinx.com
Julie, YES! If you select "Instant Slide Show" you will find several options to randomize the panning and zooming of your slides, automatically.
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Bye R@y
Hey there! I do my layouts in MemoryMixer (I can also add captions, but with no effects - that would have to be done in Keynote). When I'm finished, I export the video to my site, but the actual video is small...to small to be able to read the captions! Any clues out there as to how I should export it to my MobileMe account (Macbook) where it is a decent size for viewing? Thanks!
Thanks Ray, I have just realised it is Fotomagico 2 I have not 3, can anyone tell me if this has an instant slideshow option so it creates random animation and also random transitions?
Thanks
Julie
Hi there! I've just started to experiment with FM-Pro latest version. As long as you see the show on the screen (iMac-leopard) it looks good like a show in Apperture. NOW: Export to iMovie and burn the DVD: Result is the same as iDVD. Blurry and to low res although burned in the best res. possible. (TV-HD quality).
There should be a possibility to improve the dvd quality. I know that lots of Boinx customers have the same question. Who actually has the answer?
Hi again...
Re to above matter, the exported show (DV Movie) is such low quality already, so no wonder that a dvd is even worse. And the back up space: 5.5 gig for 200 photos + music is quite a lot for low res images. So, there is a problem! When I watch an ordinary video (DVD) even a still of this movie is of a better quality on my Sony Bravia HD TV.
However (hopefully) someone out there has a solution.
Please!
Thanks, Theo.
@Theodor -- The nature of a TV screen is that it is blurry compared to a computer screen. That's why they invented High Definition TV. Try playing your FotoMagico presentation on your Mac with your Mac's DVI port connected to the HDMI port on your HD TV and you will be awe-struck at how good it is compared to DVD quality. Also, connecty your Mac's audio out port to your stereo receiver.
I doubt that a professional photographer would present his/her work using a DVD!
Saving problems are fixed with the latest update. But I still have the problem that FM is not able to display my Canon 5D Mark II videos smoothly. At the beginning of each video clip the picture gets frozen for a sec. According to Boinx support Boinx is aware of the problem but will not be able to fix shortly.