FotoMagico 5 – Review

FotoMagico 5
Developer: Boinx Software
Download from App Store: $49.99 (5 Pro from Boinx site: $99.99)

FotoMagico is much more than a slideshow presenter. With it you can make professional presentations that include music, photos, animation, video, text, titling, beautiful transitions, and more. One of its best features is the ability to export your slideshows in an array of formats: DVD, Blu-Ray, iOS, Apple TV, YouTube, and several others. With the Pro version, you can even save a copy of your presentation as standalone, self-playing file that doesn’t need the FotoMagico application to run. Imagine the convenience of taking your presentation to a venue on a flash drive and using their computer (running Mac OS X 10.10 or 10.11) to show it — no resident application required.

Using the previous Fotomagico version, I documented a trip to Barcelona with photos, music, and text and then sent copies to friends and family. I was pleased to be able to send a DVD copy to our Spanish hosts as a thank you gift.

FotoMagico’s interface is easy to understand. Upon opening, you see a Start and an Finish window for each slide. If you want to pan left-to-right, for example, you drag a photo into the timeline and position it in the Start window where the pan is to begin. In the Finish window, you position the photo at the end of the pan. On the timeline, you set how long you want the pan to take. With that completed, you drag in your next photo. If you want a transition between photos, you simple select one from the many available and set its length.

There is a well-designed audio track window where you can place and edit music to fit your slides. You can use your own music, but the app includes a library of music and effects. These tracks have Creative Common licenses and can be used freely. A new feature in this version is pre-made Snippets. These are intro themes, scenes, transitions, and other professionally-made segments that can be edited to suit your needs.

Simple timeline (upper), complex timeline (lower)

Boinx makes improvements with each iteration of FotoMagico.  It is not an inexpensive app, but the pro-level presentations you can create make it worth the money for many users. These new versions require OS X 10.10 Yosemite or newer and 8GB of RAM. A dedicated graphics card is recommended. Fotomagico has won several Apple Design awards. MyMac has enthusiastically reviewed this app several times. The two most recent reviews were versions 4.2 and 4.6.

FotoMagico 5 is available in the Mac App Store ($49.99). The Pro version ($99.99) is available from the Boinx site. Existing PhotoMagico 4 and 5 users can upgrade to FotoMagico 5 Pro for $49.99. Let’s examine the differences.

FotoMagico 5 gives you the basics: Storyboard view, Music and Effects track, access to your OS X Photos library, YouTube sharing, and several export functions.  FotoMagico 5 Pro adds the Timeline View, the Standalone Player, Narration track, access to Lightroom and Aperture libraries, Teleprompter, Masks and Borders, and several additional advanced features.

As a longtime user, I enthusiastically recommend FotoMagico. Version 5 is a worthy upgrade.

MyMac Review rating is 9 out of 10.