Instagram, the creative photo-taking app and social media platform, has released a companion app for creative video shooting.
The new app, Hyperlapse, helps make videos appear more professional and artsy by offering two features; excellent video stabilization, and a user-selectable range of time-lapse speeds.
The launch version of Hyperlapse out of the gate is for iOS devices. An Android version will spring forth eventually -- Hyperlapse works with gyroscope components in mobile devices, and apparently Google needs to tinker with Android to get it to play nice with Hyperlapse.
Operation of the app is blessedly simple. Open the app, press the white shutter button just as you would in iOS's native camera app, and watch life pass you by. Press the shutter button to tell the video camera, "Hey, enough already!" Recording limit on the iPhone 4 is 10 minutes; 45 minutes on iPhone 5 and up.
Once finished, there to your wondering eyes will appear two different time indicators. On the left is the total recorded time; on the right, the compressed playback time at the app's default setting of 6x normal speed.
Users will also see an editing slider on the screen to adjust the playback speed, from 1x through 12x settings. Naturally, the faster the playback speed, the shorter the finished clip will be. Once the video has been edited and saved, the selected speed is locked in and cannot be changed later. Also, only one speed per video -- users cannot switch between different speeds in the course of one video.
One neat trick shows off the video-stabilization feature -- touch the screen during video playback, and the video switches into not-stabilized mode, identified on screen by the appearance of the word Unstabilized. The difference in quality is quite impressive. Tap again to return to the stabilized view.
Not that you'd want to, but video stabilization cannot be shut off or edited out. It's built in, and not tinkerable. A sample of a stabilized Hyperlapse video can be viewed here.
After the editing process is done (essentially just consisting of selecting a playback speed), selecting the checkmark on the top right of the screen will save the video to your Camera Roll.
If you're not happy with the results, tapping the red X on the screen will allow the user to either delete the video or save it to the app for another editing go-round at a later date.
There are options present on saved videos to upload to either Facebook or Instagram.
Users will find that Hyperlapse helps create professional-looking videos without the bounce and shake that permeates usual mobile device video shooting. Stabilization is especially important when shooting time-lapse video, since accelerated playback with stabilization will negate that motion sickness-inducing earthquake effect found in most amateur video efforts.
