Whether you have a Nexus device and are currently using the new Google Camera application, or you have a phone from Samsung, LG, Sony, or HTC, with its own camera application, you may feel limited by the options provided to you. If you’re looking for a replacement app to use on your device, here are some of the best alternative cameras you can install now.
A Better Camera
A Better Camera is the result of a project that merged several well-known Android camera apps into one (HDR Camera+, Night Camera+, and HD Panorama+). As that would suggest, the app offers excellent HDR processing, 360 degree panorama shots, and a noise-free night mode. It also adds some of the features that many Android OEMs have introduced in their camera software, like group portrait (merges several photos with the best smile from every person), object removal, best photo, and sequence shots.
However, A Better Camera adds other options that are rare to find in default camera apps. There are granular controls for exposure, white balance, and ISO, as well as time lapse and DSLR-like exposure bracketing (gets you 3 photos with different exposures without having to manually change the setting). A Better Camera may not look as good as some of the other options on this list, but it does make up for it with a lot of useful options.
A Better Camera’s many useful camera modes
Download: A Better Camera
Camera Awesome
With a pre-iOS 7 inspired interface, Camera Awesome doesn’t look like it has a lot to offer at first, but you’d be wrong to simply dismiss it for that. It has 3 awesome features that make it worth trying — aside from the manual control over exposure, white balance, and ISO.
First is the Big Button mode that simply transforms the whole screen into the shutter key, allowing you to take photos without having to hunt and peck for a small trigger. Second is the Awesomize effect which, thanks to a slider, can be applied with granular control to improve any photo. And third is the sheer amount of effects, filters, textures, and frames that can be used.
Camera Awesome’s Awesomize feature
Download: Camera Awesome
VSCO Cam
VSCO Cam trades in camera functionality for looks, filters, and social elements. There are very few settings prior to taking the photo, but post-capture editing is well developed with hundreds of free and paid filter packs, as well as dozens of granular adjustments. These include fade, sharpen, vignette, shadow lightening, tint, skin tone, and more.
VSCO Cam photos can be shared to the app’s own social network, VSCO Grid, which looks and behaves similarly to Instagram. There isn’t much to the app other than that, but its clean looks certainly helped it become the favorite camera app for thousands of Android users.
VSCO Cam trades functionality for clean design
Download: VSCO Cam
Camera Zoom FX
The name might not be quite imaginative or descriptive but Camera Zoom FX is one of the heavy-weights in its category. With multiple modes (burst, best photo, time lapse), helping tools (stable shot, grid overlays, horizon level), and post-capture edits (filters, collages, adjustments), it aims to be the one-stop solution for photography lovers, and it somewhat manages to do so.
Camera Zoom FX’s significant feature, however, is the ability to assign any action to the physical buttons on your phone. You can set the volume keys to zoom in or out for example, or to shoot if you like that.
Camera Zoom FX works on phones and tablets
Download: Camera Zoom FX Premium
Camera FV-5
Camera FV-5 sets an extremely high standard for itself from the get-go by claiming it can bring a DSLR-like interface to mobile devices. Thankfully though, it does succeed at this mission. Not only does the app provide quick buttons to almost every setting you can think of (exposure, ISO, white balance, light metering), it also has exposure bracketing and an intervalometer.
You can save your various settings for quick access through the Program and Speed modes, assign functions to the hardware buttons on your device, see a live RGB histogram of your shot, compose your photo according to various grids and crop guides, and even save your photo in lossless .png on some devices.
Download: Camera FV-5
Which one to choose?
Choosing between these different camera applications is going to be quite difficult because each one has something that it does really well.
Camera Zoom FX is the best all-rounder with many pre and post-capture options. A Better Camera is suited for those who just want slightly more control over their shots than their default camera app, and Camera FV-5 for those who are very particular about manually picking every setting in order to get the shot they want.
As for VSCO Cam and Camera Awesome, they are perfect for those who don’t want to bother with manual adjustments, and just want a good quality photo with simple post-capture edits and filters.
