The stock Android camera has evolved since its birth and the new ICS stock camera application is much more equipped to cope with better camera hardware that the phone-makers are churning out.
Still though, the stock application lacks a few things. The solution? Meet Camera Zoom FX, which is one of the most popular paid applications on the Android Market. The app justifies the small dent it puts in your pocket. Read on to find out about the most outstanding features of this application.
Camera Zoom FX Interface
The Good:
Focusing: The application provides five options to choose from: Auto, Infinity, Macro, Fixed, Facedetect. You can easily choose the one that suits your need and go clicking. Also, from the menu you can easily switch the compostion grids: from no gridlines to Golden Ratio and Cross hair, you have options at your hand. Again.
Quick menu
Settings Menu
Shooting Modes: Again, once you access the shooting mode menu button which is a gear-wheel just above the shutter button, you’ll realize a feature-rich application this is. With 7 shooting modes Normal, Timer, Burst Mode, Time Lapse, Stable Shot, Voice activated and Collage, Camera Zoom FX beats the stock camera app here. The two modes worth mentioning are the Stable Shot mode and Voice Activated mode. In the stable shot mode, the sensitivity and the stability time of the camera can be varied from within the menu and even a stability meter can be displayed! So no more blurred pictures because you can’t keep still. The voice activated mode again is a good feature and you can vary the sensitivity of the sensor. Cool?
Shooting Modes
In Camera Effects:The app features a range of filters that provide Non-Destructive photo editing and the good part is that some of the effects can be used in Camera. My favourite Holga 35mm filter complete with Vignette and Crop allows you to take pictures in the famous Holga format without having to edit the shots afterwards. Also, the app takes advantage of better phone processors for background processing.
All the Frames and Vignettes can be applied in camera and you can compose that way for more visually accurate shots.
Post Production Effects: The best is yet to come. All the in camera effects plus many more can be applied in post production in the same application! You have filters, Vignettes, Frames, Crops, Overlays and Textures to choose from and the best part is that more Filters and Overlays can be downloaded from the market! Moreover you can vary the contrast, brightness, saturation too. And the beauty of the entire process is that the application doesn’t destroy the images one bit! Also the original resolution is preserved!
Other Customizations: The app also allows options for further customizations. The pick of the lot is the ability to use hardware buttons and screen gestures for custom functions! Now that is what android really stands for.
The Bad:
Needless to state, nothing is perfect. This beast has its downsides, though small too.
1. It misses the spot focus function of the stock android camera app.
2. Cannot silence the camera sound on Samsung devices.
3. Not all filters can be applied live in-Camera.
4. When switched to video mode, it launces the default Video Recoder Application.
The Beautiful:
Think the game is over? Here is the best we saved for the last!
Its Fast: The Application allows shot to shot delay of…zero seconds(Practically). Say goodbye to missing moments and get shooting like there is no tomorrow. Yes you can always stop to review the images, but once you get the hang of this application, there will be no need.
It transforms your phone: Yes, you can program your volume buttons to function as physical shutter buttons. For phones which don’t have the option, this is photographic heaven.
It can see in the dark: This is true. While most camera applications provide 3 flash modes, this gives four. The Torch Flashfeature allows you to focus things that are close in the dark more accurately, reducing the pain of trial and error. Excellent.
It can predict the future: We are all tired of having to crop our photos into square in post processing since Instagram wants square crop ratios. What to do? Shoot in Square and many other crop ratios. Life’s suddenly easier.
Why would you use it?
Want to take photos quickly without having to locate the camera button on screen, take photos in darkness, and you want to take photos with different crop factors rather than cropping pictures afterwards and you want easy, non destructive editing.
Why you wouldn’t use it?
Other than the missing spot focus feature and the fact that this isn’t a free app, there is absolutely no reason to miss it.
Verdict:
Get this. Now.
Google Play Direct link:
