FollowInstagram’s team just came up with a beautiful invention. Instagram launches Hyperlapse, a separate app that allows you to record smooth time-lapse videos. The idea in itself is so great because it basically turns your smartphone into $15.000 worth of video equipment, Wired claims.
From 10 AM PST, Hyperlapse will be available on Apple AppStore. That is right, Hyperlapse is only available to iPhone users. Besides, it is free! Fortunately, Instagram announced that they are working at an Android version which should be available soon.
So the story is as follow. In 2013, Thomas Dimson was still under the strong impression left by ‘Baraka’, an artsy film shot with steadycams. At the time he was working for Instagram and met once again his former Stanford colleague Alex Karpenko, who designed the first image-stabilization tech for smartphone videos.
Obtaining a clear smooth time-laps is possible with sophisticated and expensive equipment. Primarily, when a software is used to render a shaky video steady, a massive processing power is required, because each frame has to be analyzed. A smartphone does not have the same processing power of a desktop computer with a videocard.
The Toshiba T4KA3 image sensor for smartphones and tablets will be launched in 2015. What sets this sensor apart is its ability to capture HD videos at 240 fps. Well, now just imagine the results of using Hyperlapse combined with this performant Toshiba sensor!
Instagram launches Hyperlapse, an app using the smarthone’s gyroscope to produce steady images
Despite the lack of power, smartphones have a core asset – gyroscopes. So instead of using post-processing software, the gyroscope can help smartphone cameras achieve steady images if the right algorithm is put to work.
After working together, the two Instagram colleagues managed to obtain a beta version of what would later be called Hyperlapse. The beta-version worked surprisingly good, offering the expected results. Before the app was placed on AppStore, it circulated among Instagram employees who were terribly excited, so it’s a miracle that there were no leaks.
The UI is surprisingly simple. The only available option is that changing the speed of your video replays, from 1X up to 12X. The reasons is that different speeds may offer different understandings of video clips. A boring clip may end up exciting if played at a higher speed. Instagram launches Hyperlapse, a high-tech app that will allow regular folks to shot impressive clips with their average smartphones, Wired reports.
