Product Reviews

FotoMagico is a powerful, intuitive slideshow application that features integration with the latest version of iLife. Compared to the last release of FotoMagico (Reviews, 27 October 2006, p46), this latest version sports several enhancements and is now available in two flavours. The Pro version costs $129, a full $50 more than the previous release; the Express version, which has had some features removed, is $49.

All the elements that made FotoMagico so great are still there. Each image in the slideshow is set with a start and end state, and the image can be zoomed and rotated smoothly between the two; controls to ease the transition in and out determine how long the image rests before zooming. To synchronise a slideshow with a soundtrack, play the soundtrack and press a marker button at each bar or sequence change, and the images will automatically change right on cue.

The contents of your iPhoto and iTunes libraries are shown for you to choose images and audio - although, of course, you can select from any folder you like. The Pro version can also display and load images directly from the

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Aperture library.

Thumbnail display has been greatly speeded up, with images loaded only as they're scrolled through. Pro users now have access to rudimentary image adjustment, featuring red, green and blue sliders as well as saturation and gamma controls. Given that a full set of image enhancement tools is built into Apple's Quartz engine, though, it's strange that such essential adjustments as brightness and contrast have been omitted.

Slideshows can be burned to DVD (using either iDVD or Toast), or exported in a variety of movie formats, including those for iPod and the iPhone. Slideshows can also now be saved as a standalone Mac player (no Windows player is yet available). In the Pro version, you can set playback restrictions that limit either the total number of times a show can be played, or set a cut-off date for the expiry of the playback period.

The Pro version also allows users to design their own 'watermarks' on the slides - showing the name of the photographer, for example. The Express version, however, uses a fixed watermark on slideshows reading 'Created with Boinx FotoMagico', with the URL beneath. While this might just be acceptable for unregistered shareware, to impose this watermark in paid-for software is greedy and unforgivable.

With 15 transitions, including the new Thumb Through and Shuffle, plus moving and scalable text and the ability to make slideshows run either automatically or in response to user input, FotoMagico is capable of producing professional results. But the large price hike for the Pro version, along with the removal of some features and the fixed watermark in the Express version, will leave many users feeling cheated.