Magilight by Fotorgear

Hello fellow photographers and light painters! Back in February of this year I invested in an Indiegogo project by Fotorgear called Magilight: Creativity Without Boundaries. I opted for the Magilight Early Bird and the add-on Mini LED Bar. I didn't get the optional add-on Wireless Receiver. Shipping was estimated in mid April, but I didn't hold my breath as this isn't the first product that I've backed. I've backed a few things but only a couple of products, this being my second one. The first product that I backed went bust, and I lost my money, so I was a bit worried about this one too. The first product I backed was called TriggerTrap and they'd been around a while and were based just up the road in Bristol. This was their second crowd funded product and the first one was a success so I figured this was a sure thing. Boy was I wrong!!! They had so much interest and some amazing working prototypes, but they just couldn't get their act together and it all went bust. Shame that. But anyway, back to Fotorgear and Magilight, which I've just received today!

So, what is Magilight? It's an LED light stick that you use for creative light painting in long exposure photography. It's quite similar to the Pixelstick which came out a few years ago. But the Magilight has been based mostly on Tube Light Painting and Fire Painting.

Here's one of the first hands on reviews of Magilight:

And here's another one:
 I do believe that these are the people who inspired Magilight. :-)

Magilight was projected to be ready for shipment mid April, but there were a few hickups and shipping problems they had to sort out. From following other projects I knew this wasn't so uncommon, so I was patient. The biggest hang up was the production of the add-on wireless receiver, but I hadn't ordered that. They didn't talk much about the mini LED bar so I don't know how much of a hang up that was, but I do know that I wasn't part of the first wave of shipments. I figured it was because of the mini bar.  I received notification that my early bird Magilight was on it's way on the 16th of May. Yay!! Expected deliver date was 22nd May. Every day, several times a day, I checked the shipping updates. :-D It was coming via DHL and I'd signed up for text notifications and updates. Definitely recommend doing that.

I was a bit worried about customs charges, and there were some, but they weren't as bad as I was expecting. DHL sent me a text and link about the import charges and how to pay. It was £18.

The product is being shipped from Singapore, mine made a pit stop in Germany, before coming to me in the UK.

True to their estimate on the delivery day of 22nd May, it arrived promptly this morning! As you can see in the above photos, it is well packaged. The mini LED bar and charger packed away safely inside the carrying case with the Magilight.

Carrying Bag

Battery, rechargeable 

Micro SD card

As you can see in the photos, everything came branded.

So far I'm really impressed with the build quality of everything. As it's a bright sunny day I've not had much of a chance to play with it yet, so I can't comment on it's use just yet, but I have had a small play in a dark corner of my home. I'll let you know how that went in a minute. 

The carrying case is quite handy and has lots of pockets and straps for securing the Magilight and LED bars. The charger was in one of the pockets. 

The Battery Charger top

The Battery Charger Bottom

 The battery charger is powered by USB, so I connected the USB to a powerful phone charger which I plugged into the wall. I'm in the UK and it all works fine.

The batteries came stored in the handle with a little bit of paper which needs to come out before it will work. I was happy to see that they had a bit of charge already so that I could have a quick play. 

Close up of handle showing that there is some power in the batteries.

In this next photo you see the Magilight and the mini LED bar, which is suppose to do everything the big one does. From my little play with it so far, it looks as if it does. 

 All of the black and blue bits are aluminum/metal and seem very sturdy and well made. The bit of plastic on the face of the controls and covering the LEDs all came with a plastic protector which I pealed off. 

Controls on handle

It came with a quick start manual, but I've not read it yet. Luckily it's not very hard to figure out, I've managed to work it out without reading any instructions so far. :-D 

Micro SD Slot

A lot of people have complained about the micro SD slot, saying that it's easy to eject the micro SD card while using it. I don't know if that was fixed in production or not, but it is slightly recessed and I've not had a problem with it coming out easily or accidentally. What I have had a problem with so far is accidentally turning it off while trying to use it in the dark. Or accidentally pressing one of the other buttons. When you're waiving it around and spinning it, it's quite easy to do. 

 The handle can be locked down in several angles and move along the LED bar. It has little markings to help you line it up in the exact centre for simple circles. There's also a grip ring to help you spin smoothly.

There's a tripod (or light stand) connector built into the handle which is very handy! 

There's even little holes in the end of the LED bars for adding extras like sparklers to the end. Really looking forward to trying that out!

The brightness comes preset to 15%, so you might want to turn it up if you are playing with it during the day like I've been. :-)

In the shade during full sunlight and turned up to 100% brightness. 

Also in the tube was this little surprise. Not something I really need but might come in handy.

Flash gun diffuser

I've only managed a quick play in a darkish corner of my home so far. Here are a few of the images from that play time.

When I've had more time to play with it and create more images I'll update this blog post with more photos and info below. Until then, happy snapping!

 PS.. I've been inspired to start a Magilight Photographers Facebook Group, as I wanted to communicate with other Magilight users and was having trouble doing so. If you are a Magilight (or future) user, please feel free to join our group and share your experiences and photos. Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Magilight.Photographers/

UPDATE: 

OK, as promised a few photos from going out at night with the Magilight. I didn't have much time to spend on this, just a few minutes, but I had loads of fun. Really looking forward to having a proper play soon.

Bit of fun with blending the images together. :-)

Another update! More photos!

Me with my Magilight and a portrait I just lightprinted from a photo I took for a magazine a few years ago. 

Clifton Bridge from Bristol in my garden here in Stroud. 

Another another update! Went out with other photographers to light paint down at Capel Mill and by the Canal in Stroud.

Handle in the middle, because I forgot to move it haha, sparkler on the end. 

Handle on the end and spun, sparkler on the end. 

I think it's safe to say I'm having fun with this. :-D

I'll be posting my favourite photos on my Instagram account, you can see them here: https://www.instagram.com/tammylynnsnaps/

Canon Professional Services - Landscape Event

Canon 5Ds + Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II 

On Tuesday 29 November 2016, I happily attended a special Canon Professional Services Landscape Event at Durlston Country Park, Swanage. We were allowed to bring a guest so I brought me best mate Liz along. It was a long drive for us, around three hours there and then another three hours back, but we love a good road trip. Especially when photography is involved. Not only was photography involved but we got to play with some new kit as well. That's always a bonus.

We were greeted with coffee/tea and cakes, treated to displays of gear from Canon, Manfrotto and Lee Filters and enjoyed a talks by Canon Explorer David Norton and Professional Photographer Jon Gooding. A bit later we were given a light lunch and then later in the evening treated to a proper hot dinner. They took very good care of us. :-)

Canon 5Ds + Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II

 There was gear from Canon of course as well as Manfrotto and Lee Filters. I've got a nice basic selection of Lee Filters already as well as Manfrotto tripods and heads so I was more interested in the new Canon gear. Specifically the new Canon 5D IV and 5Ds/r DSLR cameras, and the super wide angle lenses. Canon 8-15mm f/4L Fisheye Lens and 11-24mm f/4L. Of these I managed to get my hands on the Canon 5Ds and the Canon 11-24mm f/4L, but not at the same time. I really wanted the lens first as by the time we swapped gear around I knew it'd be dark, but that wasn't to be, I got the camera first. Two photos above were some of the first photos I took with it. Later I photographed sunset with it.

Canon 5Ds + Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L

The Canon 5Ds is a 50 megapixel full frame camera. I'm not a technical person so I'm not going to go into the spec details, apologies if you came here for that. If you are interested it's easy enough to look up, especially when I made you a handy link to click on above. :-)

I only had the camera for a short amount of time and didn't really have time to put it through it's paces. But what little time I spent with it was enough to fall in love. The camera was already familiar to me as I own both the Canon 5D II and 5D III cameras. It's pretty much set up just like the 5D III, button wise, and I had no problems controlling the camera or finding my way around.

The 5D III is a 22.3 megapixel camera and the 5Ds is a whopping 50.6 megapixel camera! Much larger files means larger prints and more image definition. Again, I'm not going to go into the technical details, these are just the basics. But say you printed an image from the 5D III @ 300dpi you'd get roughly a 19 x 13 inch print. With the 5Ds you'd get roughly a 29 x 19 inch print. I did my best not to drool all over the camera.

Canon 5D mark II + Canon 70-200mm f2.8L

I shot with a 50 megapixel camera a few years ago, in a studio situation. It was a medium format Hasselblad. I'm in love with that camera too. OK, I confess, I'm in love with a lot of cameras. :-) Wish I could have had the Canon 5Ds and the 5D IV for a few days to test under more controlled conditions, but I have to make do with what I can get my hands on. :-)

My thoughts on the 5Ds, I love it. I am seriously thinking about retiring my Canon 5D II and replacing it with the 5Ds. Not only for the image quality and size but because the controls are the same as my 5D III. When you are shooting with two cameras it helps if their buttons are all in the same places and the controls the same. I often get confused between my 5D II and 5D III cameras. As for the 5D IV which I did't get to play with, yes I want, but I'll have to wait for the price to drop a bit before I can afford it. It's very rare for me to run out and buy the latest gear, I have to be a bit more frugal.

On to the night time shoot..

Canon 5D mark III + Canon 11-24mm f/4L with a hint of  the Milky Way.

There were two shooting groups for the evening which we were suppose to all get a chance at, but there was some confusion and Liz and I missed out on nearly all of one of them. There was photographing the night sky and light painting. We only caught the tail end of the light painting group before they packed up for the evening. Shame we missed that, but I have done light painting more than I've done night sky shooting so I went for that first.

For the evening shoots I borrowed the Canon 11-24mm f/4L lens, which is a fabulous lens and one I've been drooling over. Yes I know, I drool so much I should wear a bib. What's so special about the super wide angle 11-24mm zoom? Well it doesn't have all the distortion that other wide angle lenses do. It's not to everyone's taste though, as Liz says, that takes all the fun out!

Canon 5D mark III + Canon 11-24mm f/4L

Using this lens at night really wasn't a great test for the lens, but it's when I could get my hands on it. I still enjoyed using it though. It's definitely on my drool list. Oops I mean want list! I can just about justify it as a business expense so I might eventually get one. I can think of several shoots I have coming up that it sure would be handy on. I'm thinking especially large group shots, like at events and weddings. It has a hefty price tag though, so might take me awhile to save up for it.

Canon 5D mark III + Canon 11-24mm f/4L with a hint of  the Milky Way.

I've been to a few Canon Professional Services Network meetings, and I always enjoy myself. I highly recommend them if you are a CPS or CPN member. This one was exceptionally nice as they fed us and provided us with lots of coffee and cake! I also really liked being able to check out the gear to try in the field. I did already know most of the information given in the talks but it was a nice refresher and provided some much needed inspiration to get out there and do some more landscape photography, both during the day and night.

Here are a few photos from my phone of the event:

We were greeted with cake and coffee! :-D 

The Canon Table (First venue, there was more gear at second venue)

Manfrotto Table (First venue, there was more gear at second venue)

Lee Filter Table (First venue, there was more gear at second venue)

One of the talks at the first venue.

The Canon 5Ds I had on loan, they teased me by putting a 5D IV strap on it. 

Back of the Canon 5Ds

If you are a professional photographer and have a lot of pro Canon gear, I highly recommend signing up with the Canon Professional Services Network. Especially if you enjoying attending free network meetings like I attended above.

Happy shooting!