Cameras on smartphones are a much bigger deal than they used to be. Companies are chomping at the bit to make their cameras more reliable, work better in low light, and add features that people want. Many will base their purchase decisions on the strength of the camera. The point is that cameras are important on mobile devices these days. There are plenty of excellent apps to help you make the most of it. Here are the best camera apps for Android!
Camera FV-5 is one of many camera apps for manual camera fans. It emulates various DSLR features. That includes manual shutter speed, ISO, light metering, focus, white balance, and more. It also supports JPEG, DNG (RAW), and PNG file formats. There is support for 30 langauges as well. There are a ton of features. However, it does a good job of not feeling bloated. It even has support for volume key usage. You can pick it up for free or go pro for $3.95.
Camera MX is one of the oldest and most popular camera apps. Developers update the app regularly and that keeps it current. It works best for simple stuff. The app has a variety of shooting modes. You can also use it to shoot photos or videos. There is even a GIF mode to make your own GIFs. The built-in photo editor can do the basics as well. It's a decent all-in-one solution. Serious photographers may want to look elsewhere.
Camera Zoom FX is another one of the older camera apps that aged well. It's a good mix of simple and serious. You'll get manual controls for things like ISO, shutter speed, exposure, and more. There are also filters, HDR mode, various photo modes, and more. There are also a few plugins that add even more features. It's not as mainstream as Camera MX. However, it does have more features than most manual camera apps. You can try it for free before paying $3.49 for the pro version.
Candy Camera is part of a new wave of camera apps. This one is specifically for selfies. It has a bunch of filters. It also includes makeup tools, stickers, and additional stuff. There is also a collage mode. The UI is a little hard to use at first. It gets easier the more you use it. It's not something a serious photographer would want to use. It's more for things like Instagram photos or other social media stuff. The app is completely free to download. It has advertising, but no way to get rid of them.
Cymera is another one of the older and popular camera apps. It focuses more on mainstream features. That means you'll get a bunch of filters, stickers, special effects, and similar features. It also has a beauty camera mode. It can add or take away features from your face and body. We're not big fans of such dramatic alterations, but to each their own. It also includes a photo editor for minor edits. It's free to download. You can buy additional stuff as in-app purchases.
DSLR Camera has an ambitious name. However, it's one of the better manual camera apps. It features a decent number of manual controls. That includes white balance, light metering, a live histogram, ISO, and more. It also has various shot modes, geotagging, and you can use the volume buttons as shutter buttons. That's it, really. There isn't a lot of bric-a-brac to gum up the works. It works really well on most devices. It has a few bugs, but nothing major most of the time. The only downside is the lack of a free trial. Make sure you test it inside of the refund time.
Footej Camera is one of the newer camera apps. It has a good mix of mainstream and serious photography features. It uses Android's Camera2 API. That means it has a full assortment of manual controls. It can also shoot video, make GIFs, a photo histogram, and burst mode. It also supports RAW format as long as your device does. You can try it out for free or pay $2.99 for the pro version. It's quite excellent without too many serious bugs.
Google Camera is Google's official camera app. It's the one you'll find on most Google devices. It has a small, but effective set of features. They include a lens blur mode, slow motion (on supported devices), photo spheres, video stabilization, and more. The only downside is compatibility. You can only use this on devices running Android 7.1.1 and up (at the time of this writing). Even later on, only devices running the most current Android will likely be able to use this. Otherwise, it's free and it's really good.
Google Cardboard Camera is a camera app for Google Cardboard. It allows you to take and view VR images. You'll be able to take 360-degree photos. It's similar to panorama shots, except it goes all the way around. You'll need a Google Cardboard to get best results. Thankfully, they're cheap and easily accessible. The app itself is also free with no in-app purchases. It's a niche product to be sure. It's also the easiest way to take those types of photos.
Manual Camera is exactly what the name implies. It's a camera with a bunch of manual settings. It attempts to take full advantage of the Camera2 API. That means you get access to shutter speed, focus distance, ISO, white balance, and exposure compensation. It also has a timer and support for RAW. Your device needs support for RAW as well in order to use that feature. It's incredibly simple to use. Just make sure you try the free version before buying it.
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Motion Stills is one of the newer camera apps. It's also an extremely niche app. Its main function is recording short bits of video. It can turn that video into a GIF or it can stay a video for later viewing. It also has a fast forward option for super quick videos. It's not useful for taking photos. However, it's about the only app that does what this one does. It can't hurt to have it in your repertoire. It's completely free to download and use. It is a tad buggy, though.
Open Camera is one of the most popular camera apps for serious photographers. It has most of the serious features we've discussed before. That includes manual camera controls. It also includes a timer, support for some external microphones, HDR, exposure bracketing, and more. It's also a great option for both photographers and videographers. The app is completely free with no in-app purchases or advertising. It's also completely open source. That's always a plus. There is an optional (and separate) donation app if you want to support the developer.
Snap Camera HDR is a good between for serious and amateur photographer types. There is support for manual camera controls, 4K video recording, RAW support, HDR, and file size options. It also includes fun shooting modes, effects, borders, color effects, and vignettes. There are camera apps that do manual controls a little better and apps that do fun filters and such a little better. It's rare to find an app that does both as well as this one. Make sure to try the free version before buying the pro version.
Z Camera is a good app for wild effects and editing. The app implements a real-time filter. That lets you see what shots will look like with a filter before taking them. It also has HDR, tilt-shift for lens blur, and a huge collection of additional filters. There is a photo editor built-in. It's nothing special, but it can do a few fun things. You can do stuff like change your hair color, add other stuff, etc. It's good for what it is. There are a ton of in-app purchases, though. Tread lightly, this one can get expensive.
Every phone comes with its own camera app. You should definitely give that app a fair shake. Manufacturers develop these apps specifically for the camera on your device. There are often features these apps have that others do not. For instance, the manual focus in the LG V20 makes whatever is in focus glow green. Thus, you visually see where the camera is focused. We really only recommend changing your camera app to expand your feature set rather than replace it. Every app on this list does best when it's used alongside the stock camera app. You're usually leaving features at the door if you don't use these.
Camera 360 is one of the most popular camera apps available for smartphones. The app brings both professional level manual controls and features along with fun editing features.
The app comes with various camera modes, lots of exclusive filters, free cloud album, sharing features, professional editing tools and more. The user interface is also not clean and not cluttered with all the features on the front. The great thing about Camera 360 is it’s free with the Play Store and there are no ads as well. If you want a great all-in-one camera app for your Android device, Camera 360 Ultimate shouldn’t disappoint you.
Developer: Pinguo Inc.
Camera ZOOM FX Premium
Camera ZOOM FX Premium is a fast and sleek camera app on Android. This is a paid app but the feature list and the user interface makes it worth it. The app includes the best of both worlds, that is professional camera features and fun features.
The Camera ZOOM FX app brings a fast capture along with lots of camera modes like best photo, stable shot, time lapse, HDR and more. The app also gives you the ability to set a hardware key like the volume rocker as the camera button. The app also packs in powerful post processing along with lots of cool editing features for you to enjoy.
Developer: androidslide
Compatibility: Android 1.6 and up
Availability: (Paid) Google Play Store
Camera FV-5
Camera FV-5 is another feature packed professional camera app, which brings DSLR grade manual controls and lets you take raw pictures and process them later. The app comes with Lollipop’s Camera2 API implementation along with various advanced features.
The Camera FV-5 offers a DSLR-like viewfinder, which lets you see exposure, aperture, bracketing settings and more. The feature list is so long that it would take us a lot of time to cover it. In short, you should definitely check this app out if you are looking for a great professional camera app.
Developer: FGAE
Compatibility: Android 2.2 and up
Availability: (Paid) Google Play Store
DSLR Camera Pro
The DSLR Camera Pro is an app for Android users looking to for a full-on professional camera app. The app has been developed by GD Software, who are also behind the great Manual Camera app, which is also featured on our list. The DSLR Camera Pro app has some really powerful features packed in a good interface.
Most of the features are a tap away from the users and there are a number of professional grade features like two stage shutter, movable viewfinder, live histogram, light metering and way more. Some of the features are hardware dependent, so not all smartphones might support them.
Developer: GD Software
Compatibility: Android 4.0 and up
Availability: (Paid) Google Play Store
Vignette
Vignette is fully featured camera app, which brings a lot of cool and fun features for all the Android users across the globe. Its post processing covers whatever your stock camera would lack.
The Vignette app brings a number of modes like time lapse, touch to focus, photo booth, digital 10x zoom and more. The app also brings cool effects with 70 customisable filters and 50 frames. It also brings features advanced features like composition guides, remote shutter and more. Another fun fact is that the app is optimised for taking pictures underwater but for that make sure you have a water resistant smartphone.
Developer: Weavr Studios
Compatibility: Android 1.5 and up
Availability: (Paid) Google Play Store
Google Camera
You must be aware of the Google Camera app, which comes pre-installed on Nexus devices. Well if you are not, you should definitely check it out. The app comes with a simple interface but some really cool features.
The app lets you snap pictures quick and fast in several modes like HDR+, Lens blur, Photo sphere, wide angle and panorama. The app also lets you snap pictures while shooting a video. Google Camera also comes with Android Wear support.
Developer: Google Inc.
Compatibility: Android 4.4 and up
Availability: (Free) Google Play Store
VSCO Cam
VSCO Cam is another popular android photography app, which had become popular on iOS first before making its way to Android. The app is a great way to snap pictures, edit them and share them. VSCO uses its own processing technology, which is said bring great pictures.
VSCO allows you to sync your pictures VSCO Grid, which is a social network where the app shows you curated pictures. The app lets you edit your pictures and as the app description says, “VSCO Tools allow for fine-tuning, with the goal to complement, not define, your photographs.” The app is free on the Google Play Store and there are in-app purchases for preset packs.
Developer: VSCO
Compatibility: Android 4.0 and up
Availability: (Free with in-app purchases) Google Play Store
ProCapture
ProCapture, as the name suggests, brings some professional camera features for Android users. The app comes with shooting modes like Timer, Burst, Reduces noise, wide shot and panorama.
The app also brings some advanced features like grid and Fibonacci spiral composition aids along with real-time histogram on the screen. The app brings touch to focus and option to set the volume rocker as the camera button.
Developer: NEast Studios
Compatibility: Android 2.2 and up
Availability: (Paid) Google Play Store
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