Instagram’s first acquisition under parent company Facebook is Luma, the 18-month-old company behind the camera application by the same name. Terms of the deal were not disclosed although we are told the agreement is for the company’s talent and technology.

In a message on the company’s website, the Luma team said they embarked on a mission to make capturing and sharing beautiful videos easy without expensive software or heavy equipment. By joining the team at Instagram, they are taking another big step towards realizing that mission.

Luma’s app specializes in cinematic video stabilization, effects and filters – all of which could be useful as Instagram continues to battle with Vine in the short video clip niche. Despite the competition, however, both services are taking a different approach as they aim to provide what they believe customers value the most.

Vine is all about simplicity and spontaneity as its app enables quicker processing and publishing of its six-second clips. Users are required to shoot video from within the app and there’s also no need to select a cover frame – both being time-savers.

Instagram, on the other hand, wishes to offer a powerful and flexible service. Users can add filters, enable stabilization and even upload previously shot (and edited) videos which gives a much more professional final product. Under this model, Instagram will need to employ the best technology and techniques available which explains their reasoning for purchasing Luma.

They just have to be conscious of not adding too many features as it could quickly turn into a full-on mobile video editing service.