by What’s the first word that comes to your mind when you think about a smartphone and a camera app? That’s right. Instagram. There’s no doubt in saying that it is the best camera app out there.
It started as a simple app giving users the ability to take photos and upload it online for others to see. Soon after the launch, lnstagram became more of a social network than just a camera app; recently it was made available on the Android platform as well. You take a photo, apply a filter (effect) on it, apply a tilt-shift effect if you like (i0S only at the moment), and post it to your favorite social network (Facebook/Twitter) and on Instagram’s own photo sharing server as well. If you still cannot estimate how successful this app is, then you should know that it was Apple’s app of the year 2011. Furthermore, Facebook recently bought lnstagram for a whopping one billion dollars.
HDR Camera+
If you’re a fan of HDR photography, and have an Android phone, this one’s for you. HDR photography is no rocket science — it’s a technique exercised by professional photographers to capture uniformly exposed photos. HDR (High Dynamic Range) is all about taking three (or more) same photos at different exposures, and then combining all those photos to create a uniformly exposed photo. Professional photographers do it manually. iPhone users have this feature built-in, and now Android users can also experience what HDR images look and feel like. You might be thinking that it will be difficult, taking multiple photos, messing with exposure, etc. Actually it’s all done automatically, and you just need to act like you’re shooting a normal photo with a simple camera app. The real magic will happen afterwards when you’ll be presented with a photo which is neither too washed-out, nor too dark. You can even have a look at the series of photos the app took in order to create the HDR, and you can also save one of those photos as well. It’s time to take some HDR photos now, and be a professional photographer. Just don’t tell anyone how you did it!
ProCamera
Now here’s something that goes beyond your imagination. You might think, the stock iOS camera app is good, but there’s definitely room for improvement. Apple, keeping up with the same old (yet successful) policies of keeping things simple, won’t add more features to the default camera app. Any attempt to make it any better will make the app cluttered. But yes, there’s a gap, and that gap is beautifully filled by the feature-packed app called ProCamera. This app has everything that you need in a fully loaded application. It is just like supercharging your iOS device’s camera, with over 25 interesting features. Perhaps the most important feature of this app is the ability to lock the exposure at a point other than the point you’re focusing on. Usually the stock camera app exposes the entire photo based on the object you’re focusing on. Exposure is all about getting the picture to be properly lit. So go ahead and get ready to experience some awesomeness by testing this app out.
Paper Camera
Usually when you take photos using your phone’s camera, apply a filter on the photo in post-processing, it turns out that the filter doesn’t look as good as it should. If only there was an app that would apply the effect on the live- view of the camera. Paper camera does just that, with a nice approach. The app is called paper camera for a reason; and that’s because the filters in this app are as if the photo was actually drawn or painted on a piece of paper. Though, the fun part is that the effect is applied in real-time. As you’re moving the camera around to take the photo, the filter is constantly working and what you’re seeing is the way your final photo will look like, with the effect/filter applied. Overall, the interface also matches the name of the app. and makes it a fun one to work with.
Camera+
Apart from all the camera apps in the app store, Camera+ stands out as a special one. It is quite a lot like the other camera apps, but it’s the interface and options that make the real difference. Camera+ presents a really intuitive interface, and using the app is as simple as it can get. A stand-out feature of the app is called ‘Photo Flashlight’. Usually when you take a photo using the iOS device’s camera, the flash only fires when you take the photo. The result is often unexpected though. The photo gets ruined due to the flash. Photo Flashlight turns on the iPhone’s flash when you’re taking a picture. And you can see how the photo will look with the flash, so that you can adjust it to your liking, and snap the photo when it seems fit.
Camera ZOOM FX
Apps like Camera+ and ProCamera for iOS are designed to give you full control over the camera. In short, such apps are the ultimate camera apps; you don’t need anything else if you’ve got one such app. Of course, how can we forget reviewing a similar app for Android? Camera ZOOM FX does just that. It provides so many options for enhancing your photos. Extra zooming, action shooting (taking over 10 photos in one second), grids, filters, instant sharing, and a ton of other features make this app the ultimate camera app for an Android phone.
360 Panorama
If you’re familiar with digital photography, you might know what a panorama is. When you take a couple of consecutive photos, and stitch them together; you get a wide photo which shows you more than a single photo can. That’s what a panorama is all about. 360 Panorama for iOS works the same way, but since it’s an app, you don’t have to go through any hassle. You just need to open the app, point the camera towards a scene that you’d like to capture a panorama of, and move (pan) the camera 360 degrees around you. The app will generate a panorama and you’ll definitely be stunned by the results. You can even share your panoramas on social networking websites. Overall, this app makes creating panoramas very, very easy. And trust me, it feel way more realistic then just photos!
