Open Camera is an exceptional, completely free Camera app designed to enhance your photography and videography experience on Android devices. With a focus on providing extensive customization and control, this open-source app offers a wide range of features that cater to both novice and professional photographers.
One of the standout features is the auto-level option, which ensures your pictures are perfectly level, regardless of the angle at which you're holding your device. Open Camera also exposes your camera's full functionality, allowing you to access scene modes, color effects, white balance adjustments, ISO settings, exposure compensation and lock, selfie mode with "screen flash", and HD video recording, among other capabilities.
For added convenience, the app includes handy remote controls such as a timer with an optional voice countdown and an auto-repeat mode with a configurable delay. You can even take photos remotely by making a noise, adding a fun and creative element to your photography. The volume keys and user interface are fully configurable, providing you with the flexibility to tailor the app to your preferences.
Open Camera also offers an upside-down preview option, which is particularly useful when using attachable lenses. You can overlay various grids and crop guides to assist with composition, and optionally enable GPS location tagging (geotagging) for both photos and videos. For photos, this includes compass direction information (GPSImgDirection, GPSImgDirectionRef).
Enhance your photos further by applying date and timestamp, location coordinates, and custom text. You can also store date/time and location as video subtitles in .SRT format. If you're concerned about privacy, there's an option to remove device exif metadata from your photos.
The app supports panorama mode, including for the front camera, and offers HDR with auto-alignment and ghost removal, as well as Exposure Bracketing. Open Camera is compatible with the Camera2 API, providing manual controls (with optional focus assist), burst mode, RAW (DNG) file support, camera vendor extensions, slow motion video, and log profile video.
Additional features include noise reduction (with a low light night mode) and dynamic range optimization modes. You can also enable an on-screen histogram, zebra stripes, and focus peaking to fine-tune your shots. Focus bracketing mode is another advanced feature available to users.
What sets Open Camera apart is its commitment to being completely free and ad-free within the app itself. The developer only runs third-party ads on the website, ensuring a seamless and uninterrupted user experience. As an open-source project, the source code is readily available for those interested in contributing or learning more about the app's inner workings.
It's worth noting that some features may not be available on all devices, as they depend on the hardware, camera capabilities, and Android version. Before using Open Camera for critical events like weddings, it's recommended to test the app on your specific device. The app icon is designed by Adam Lapinski, and Open Camera also utilizes content under third-party licenses, which can be found at https://opencamera.org.uk/#licence.
For more information and to access the source code, visit the official website at http://opencamera.org.uk/.
