Instagram gets video with version 4.0
posted Friday, June 21, 2013 at 12:10 PM EDT
Yesterday, Facebook announced a major new feature for the insanely popular Instagram: video. That's right, everyone's favorite photography, filtering, and image sharing network can now do all those same things, but for video footage, too.
Much like Vine, Instagram allows you to record a short set of footage, in this case up to fifteen seconds worth. And, much like Instagramming a still photo, you have a suite of filters that can be layered over the top: the company has introduced thirteen new filters specifically for video. When you have your clip looking just right, you can also choose which frame you want to use as a cover shot.
Perhaps the most exciting part of this is actually one of the least discussed: there's a software based video stabilization system built in now. Dubbed Cinema, this new tool right now only works on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, but will come to Android in the near future. According to Engadget, it took a team of four or five dedicated engineers to make this stabilization system work, and hopefully it'll mean less herky-jerky footage.
Given that Instagram is now used as an image sharing network from a lot of other photography apps, we wonder if you'll soon see other video apps being able to share videos to Instagram, too.
The updated version of Instagram is available through both the App Store and Google Play, so you can jump on right now and start playing with videos, if you haven't already.