(Left to right) Hyperlapse product designer Chris Connolly, and software engineers Thomas Dimson and Alex Karpenko. Picture: Wired(Below) The Hyperlapse logo

Video razzmatazz just got a little cheaper with the launch of Hyperlapse, an iOS app from Instagram, a social networking service that was snapped up by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.

What is it?

Heard of time lapse videos? Well, those are the ones frequently used in films to show things like a building growing from scratch to a skyscraper or a flower blooming bit by bit. The frames, which are taken at certain intervals, are played back at normal speed to show the passage of time. It’s important to keep the camera fixed.

Mark Zuckerberg’s team has taken the concept to a hyper level. And the technique involves moving images. The core ingredient involves image stablisation technology. Say you are in a car, taking a video of the scene outside on your mobile phone. The images are played back at a speed of your choice –– minus the shakes –– to give a cinematic feel.

To shoot something similar without using the app would take a costly tracking rig, which directors like Martin Scorsese use. By the way, Jimmy Fallon has already eaten cake in Hyperlapse mode!

Who can use it?

Anybody with the Hyperlapse app installed — free! — on their iOS device. “You don’t need an account to create a hyperlapse. Instead, you open up straight to the camera. Tap once to begin recording and tap again to stop. Choose a playback speed that you like between 1x and 12x and tap the green check mark to save it to your camera roll. You can share your video on Instagram easily from there,” reads a post from the team on the Instagram blog.

Users can record up to 45 minutes of video. Once shot, choose a speed between 1x and 12x to playback the video.

Birth of Hyperlapse

Thomas Dimson and Alex Karpenko, both Instagram engineers, hit upon the idea (with help from product designer Chris Connolly) in January and the app was an instant hit internally. Instead of making it a part of the Instagram experience, the team decided to make it a standalone app. The stablisation technology that it uses has roots in Luma, a company that Instagram acquired in August 2013.

With video and photos becoming the cornerstone of mobile technology, Instagram first launched a Snapchat-like app (in which photo and video messages disappear after a few seconds) called Bolt last month (not launched in India yet). And now it is time for Hyperlapse.

UP NEXT

Apple is expected to launch a camera app as part of iOS8 and it will have the time lapse feature. Even Microsoft is working on something similar.

Hyperlapse on Twitter

Jimmy Fallon (@FallonTonight): Trying out #hyperlapse from @instagram with @jimmyfallon –– so fun!!

Daniel Loxton (@Daniel_Loxton): Holy moly: Hyperlapse, Instagram’s new app, is like a $15,000 video setup in your hand.

Chris Davies (@c_davies): Instagram’s new #Hyperlapse app looks intriguing. Time-lapse + Steadycam = curious videos.

Matija Drozdek (@matijadrozdek): Hands down, the most interesting video app for the iPhone (ever).

Mike Hudson (@MikeSel): #Hyperlapse: Instagram’s First Standalone App You’ll Actually Want to Use.

Krishna De (@KrishnaDe): Preparing back to school bento lunch boxes is super fast today thanks to #Instagram #hyperlapse.

Aman Gupta (@saysaman): #hyperlapse video the new way of showing your world to the world.

Brian King (@brianking): This app looks awesome. Would love for Firefox OS or Android.

What do you like about Hyperlapse? Tell t2@abp.in