Today Instagram announced its rumored video feature at a press event in Southern California. Instagram’s 100,000,000 active members can now shoot 15-second video clips and apply filters.
Rumors leading up to the event claimed that Instagram would launch a competitor to Vine, Twitter’s video network that lets you quickly share six-second clips with the world. After seeing what Instagram unveiled today, it looks like Vine has been leapfrogged.
Over the past two and a half years, Instagram has become a community where you can capture and share the world’s moments simply and beautifully. Some moments, however, need more than a static image to come to life. Until now these stories have been missing from Instagram.
Today, we’re thrilled to introduce Video on Instagram and bring you another way to share your stories. When you go to take a photo on Instagram, you’ll now see a movie camera icon. Tap it to enter video mode, where you can take up to fifteen seconds of video through the Instagram camera.
When the camera is opened in the new version of Instagram, a separate video icon now sits to the right of the photo capture button. Tap and hold to record video, much like Vine. You can select a cover frame from a thumbnail in your video to display when the clip is not playing. Videos are labeled by a little icon in the top right of the window and load alongside pictures in a user’s Instagram feed. Unlike Vine, videos do not automatically loop, but only play once.
Two big features Instagram has that Vine doesn’t: video filters and stabilization, or what Instagram is calling “Cinema.” There are 13 custom filters to choose from after you record a video, and shaky camera movements can be automatically stabilized with the tap of a button.
Instagram 4.0 is out now in the App Store with all of the new video features announced today.
Source: Instagram
