14 DAY TRIAL // Less than a month ago, Microsoft Research was showing a new way to create stabilized, time-lapse videos. It was only a demo and they said they would eventually release it as an app. Instagram totally blows Microsoft out of the water with their new app, that has been in the works for more than a year.
Hyperlapse was released today in the AppStore and for now it is an iPhone-only app. This app is using the motion info from the gyroscope and accelerometer built into the iPhone to get the necessary data for image stabilization. Behind the stage, Hyperlapse works just like iMovie does with shaky videos, but this is all done on your iPhone in real time.
When you first open the app, you will be amazed by its simple design. There's a Hyperlapse logo and the Instagram logo on the splash screen followed by four sample videos. After that, you are asked to provide access to the camera and photo roll, and you are given an interface that looks like the Camera.app one, but with just one round button at the bottom of the screen. Press it and you are already in business.
There's a ten-minute limit to your video duration if you are on an iPhone 4 and up to 45 minutes if you use an iPhone 5 or newer device. After you are done shooting, two new icons show up on top. You can discard the video, set it to be edited later or use it and choose how many times you want to speed it up. It can be anywhere from 2 times up to 12 times the speed of the original video footage. So you can just show a sunrise in 10 seconds or a bumpy run that took an hour can be shorten to just a few seconds.
The final video looks as smooth as one taken using a professional camera with a tripod or steady-cam. The difference is that you are using your iPhone and you just hold it in your hand as you walk, jump or run.
When you are done fiddling with the video, you can share it on Facebook or Instagram. There's no account needed and the clip gets automatically saved to your Camera Roll.
Check out the promo and sample videos below, made by the people at Instagram and make sure to download this awesome app.