Instagram Finally Gets Video

Facebook announced Video on Instagram for iPhone and Android, which lets you shoot 15-second videos, apply filters, and share them to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites.

Shooting an Instagram video is quite a bit more complex than taking an Instagram photo. It all starts with the camera button, but instead of taking a photo, you tap a video button off to the right side. From here, you hold down the shutter button to start shooting video. You can pick up your finger to stop shooting, then tap and hold the shutter button to start shooting video again, just like on Vine. If you’re not happy with the shot you just took, a conveniently placed delete button lets you backtrack and get rid of the latest shot. The longest video you can shoot is 15-seconds, whereas Vine limits your videos to six seconds.

Once you’ve finished shooting, tapping Next brings you to the filters screen, where you can choose from one of thirteen brand new filters, each of which has a different effect from film noir to “golden hour” sunset. A new button that looks like a parentheses-encased camera activates “Cinema” mode, which crops in on your video while using image stabilization to make any sudden movements less jarring. The effect is subtle, but appreciated.

Next, you can scrub through your video’s frames to choose a “Cover Frame,” the still image that appears when you share your video to other sites, or on the Instagram news feed before your video starts playing.

Finally, the Share screen looks pretty familiar — it’s a button-for-button clone of the screen you see when sharing an Instagram photo. You can add a location and caption, and then share the video to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare.

Source: theverge.com