Magmod Announces a New Fresnel-Lens Modifier That Doubles as a Gobo

Magmod has become a household name in the strobist community. Their easy to attach modifiers that hold strong to your flashes through the use of magnets have quickly become the go-to modifier for a lot of professionals. Their newest release goes by the name of Magbeam and is a Fresnel lens light modifier that packs some tricks up its sleeve.

1. Two to three more stops of light - The MagBeam’s special lenses collimate light (which is a fancy word for “making light travel in a straight line") that increases total flash output by 2 to 3 stops of light. This gives your flash greater reach when shooting distant subjects, or, brighter light when you need more than just your bare flash. This increased output also allows you to reduce your flash power to significantly increase recycle times. Ya, it’s a big deal.

2. Variable spotlight pattern - When fully extended, the MagBeam gives you super-focused light with a hard edge, similar to a stage spotlight. Collapse the MagBeam down one or two stages to create a wider beam pattern while retaining the beautiful shape and crisp edges. Finally, a Hollywood-style fresnel spotlight for speedlites.

3. Gobo-projecting thing-of-wonder - Collapse the MagBeam down, swap in a wide-angle lens, and add our custom MagMasks and now you’ve transformed it into a pattern-projecting-thing-of-wonder. MagMasks are our paper-thin custom-made stainless steel 'gobos' that 'go between' your flash and the lens in the MagBeam. This pattern is then imaged through the lens and projected out where you want it to go. Sweet huh?

4. Collapsible design is easy - With a single ninja-like motion you can attach the MagBeam and set it up all with one hand. The MagBeam’s collapsible design also makes it incredibly portable and easy to store, freeing up valuable space in your camera bag.

5. Magnetic, modular system - MagMod utilizes the invisible powers of magnetism to attach modifiers to your speedlites, completely eliminating the need for messy Velcro, adhesives, straps and bands that all add complexity to your system. We make awesome photography easy.

The two above features that I'm most looking forward to are the beam-focusing ability from the Fresnel lens as well as the ability to add a gobo. When working with light, my favorite types of images to create are the ones that have interesting, concentrated light on the subject. This new modifier promises to open a lot of doors in that realm. Throw in the added bonus of giving your flashes more apparent power and working with their already easy to use magnetic system, and this new modifier will stack up nicely with the rest of the Magmod lineup.  

If you would like to see more info, as well as some sample images and fancy GIFs, head over to their Kickstarter page.