Best Camera App for Android (2021 Review!) By Justin Brown - Primal Video

This is our 2021, roundup and review of the best camera apps for android right now, after testing them all out I'll share my top recommendation, the number one app that I'm using on android right now and why hey it's Justin brown here from primal video, where we help you grow an audience and scale your revenue with online video. If you're seeing value in this video make sure you're giving it a thumbs up, it really makes a huge difference and all the links to everything I mentioned in this video. You get my link in the description box below, let's jump into it. Now, with a quick, app install, you can instantly unlock a ton of advanced functionality to take your results even further with your android device. There's a lot of apps out there to choose from, and they're, certainly not all made equal. So in this video we're going to take a look at each of the best camera apps right now and then get to my choice for the number one app after putting them all through their paces.

Now each of them does have their advantages and disadvantages, including different features, different levels of complexity and obviously different pricing models as well, so make sure you stick around, as we run through each one to make sure that you're ending up with the one that's the best fit for you now. I just want to add in here really quickly that each one of these camera apps that we're going to cover will let you unlock professional camera-like settings on your android device. Things like shutter speed, ISO resolution frame rate nitrate, so we're not going to mention these things as we dive into each of the apps. We're only going to look at what's different between them and remember, depending on the type of the age of your specific android device. Some of these features might not be available to you, so the first app is open camera.

Now this is one that we've spoken about quite a bit on this channel. We even have a complete, step-by-step walkthrough, on how to use it, which I'll link up in the cards now overall open camera. It's got a clean interface. It's easy enough to navigate around. I will say it's not the nicest most intuitive interface, especially compared to some of the options that we've got coming up, but there is a ton of options and ton of functionality built into open camera.

There's lots of different picture profiles, lots of different video recording formats, and you've got great control over the recording quality and nitrates, and it can be used not just for creating videos but also for taking photos as well. I really like that you can customize up the interface as well, so you can have quick access to your most used features. There's also some really cool random features in there, as well as critical battery check where it's going to automatically stop your video recording if your battery's getting low, so it doesn't just switch off the phone and potentially corrupt your video file. Now, as for some downsides of the things to be aware of, some features in here again are device specific, so you may not have access to everything in here and given that it's got so many features and things built into it. The overall menu system to be able to navigate through and find everything it can be pretty complicated, there's literally menus inside of menus, so finding things quickly can be pretty difficult now in terms of pricing, open camera is totally free.

It's open source app, which means you get access to this amazing app and all the functionality totally for free. So, if anyone's looking for a ton of advanced features and controls and a good level of customization, then this is where open camera could be a great option, but if you're, someone who's more at the beginner end or someone who appreciates the advanced settings, but he's after something more intuitive and more streamlined and easier to jump in and get up and running and jump in and find things as you're recording, then that's where some other options here might be better for you, but again for what you're getting access to in this app for free. It's pretty crazy. The next app option is manual camera. Now this one has again a huge amount of options, a huge amount of settings built in, but I'd say in comparison to open camera.

This one has a much easier, a much more intuitive interface. I really like how easy it is to do simple things like to lock down your exposure right from that front screen or to quickly jump in and dial in specific settings that you're after it's all really intuitive and for some of the more advanced settings that you need to go into. The menus for everything is really easy to find in there you're not going into pages within pages of menus. Everything is laid out really well just like open camera manual. Camera isn't just for video.

You can use it for your photos as well, but one of the biggest things that stood out for me was how all of your settings remain almost exactly the same when you're switching between the different cameras on your phone. So, if you're, switching between one of the back primary cameras to the front selfie camera on this app things, like your white balance, your shutter speed, your ISO, all of those settings were kept almost exactly the same wherever possible so that everything matched and that if you were recording a video, you don't have to manually key everything in or set everything up if you're just going to switch between the different cameras and in manual camera, you also don't need to have all the pro settings, the professional mode on all the time you can actually disable it and gives you an even cleaner, simpler interface. So if you are creating videos or even taking photos where you don't need access to all of those things, and you're just going to opt for simplicity, then it's awesome that you can turn that on and off now. As for the downsides or the things to be aware of, I have found that the slider area for when you're manually setting the exposure- it's pretty small. Maybe it's just my fat fingers, but I've definitely tapped out or backed out of that setting a few times.

While I'm trying to set it- and I had to go back in to finish the adjustment, so it's pretty sensitive now there is a free version of manual camera available, called manual camera light. It does give you access to all the features in the paid version, but there are some restrictions. There is currently a maximum photo limit of up to 8 megapixels and the limit for video is 1080p, so no 4k recording in the free one and there's a maximum video recording length of five minutes as well, but to remove those restrictions and to unlock all the functionality of the app you will want the full version which sells for 4.99. So overall, I think manual. Camera is an amazing camera app.

I think it's going to be really easy for someone who is an absolute beginner to be able to jump in and figure out where everything is right through to someone at the more professional end, wanting to lock everything down and wanting to control everything. I think at that price. Point too, it's a really compelling offer it's crazy, cheap, considering what you're getting access to and how easy everything is to use. So the next app, then, is one that we've mentioned quite a bit on this channel as well. This one is film pro.

This is really the OG when it comes to advanced or third-party camera apps on android and iOS. I really like that. It's got a clean, simple interface, yet packing in a ton of functionality as well. Everything is so well laid out, so you've got quick access to all the important stuff right from that front screen, but also that you can easily monitor the important stuff, like your volume levels, your battery, how much storage you've got left all from that front screen as well and all in an intuitive way without taking up too much space, they make it really easy to do things like lock down your focus and exposure just by tapping on the screen and moving the box and the circle around or if you want more granular control, then, with another button press you're into the more advanced settings, it's got a really simple logical menu system. It's easy to dive in and find the settings that you need without needing to go through menus upon menus to find everything.

Now. Film pro also has the largest range of hardware support for things like external lenses or gimbals and stabilizers, and if you are going to be using things like metamorphic lenses, for that really cinematic look, then you get to choose whether you just want to preview the end result the d-squeezed result or actually save a d squeezed version, but you also have the option to crop your videos to those ratios as well, making it really easy to create your videos in the format that you want the end video to be released in. You also have the ability to easily create and save presets for your most used settings, so you could create some presets for when you're shooting in 4k others for 1080 others for slo-mo, so that you can easily switch between them while you're filming now, if your phone supports HDMI output, you can also output a clean HDMI video feed from your device, so you're able to either monitor what you're recording on an external monitor or even hook it up to a computer for live-streaming. There's also support for the film remote app, which you can get to remotely monitor and control your recording from another device, and if you want to be shooting your videos in a log or a flat color profile, then there is an in-app purchase to unlock the cinematographer kit, which will give you that functionality. As for the downsides of the things to be aware of, unlike the other two apps I've mentioned, film pro, is just for videos not for photos again, not really a dealbreaker.

Just something to be aware of. I think the slider to manually control your volume levels, it's pretty hidden, and it's not easy to find on the front screen pro-tip it's down the bottom middle. But this is something that I think that they could call out a little better, because we see a lot of people miss this now. Film pro also doesn't tell you the specific bit rate or quality that you're, creating your videos at instead of giving you a specific megabit per second rating, like 50 megabits per second 100 megabits per second. It instead gives you the options of economy, standard, film, quality or film extreme.

So, while each of those settings will be recording at different bit rates, they don't specifically tell you what those bit rates are and also that it's the most expensive app that we're mentioning in this video. But I don't think that's a dealbreaker. So speaking of pricing, film pro sells for 14.99 as an outright one-time purchase. If you want to unlock the cinematographer kit and film in log or flat color profiles, that's an extra 13.99 and for the film remote app, that's 9.99. So again, even though this is the most expensive app that I'm covering in this video, I still think it's crazy, cheap having access to all of those features and that functionality to help you create amazing videos from your phone now say that film pro is gonna, be great for someone right through from a beginner through to someone right at the top level advanced side as well, given that it is so intuitive it is so easy to use and having access to all of those pro level features in there.

It really is an amazing, easy app to use, and obviously, if you're someone who's looking to use some of those pieces of hardware like the gimbals, stabilizers or the external lenses, then it's really going to make this a no-brainer for you as well. Now, if I had to pick just one winner, one top app from these three, it really is going to go again to film pro. Even though open camera is really powerful, and it's free and manual camera has got a ton of functionality in it. It's a lot cheaper than film pro. I really think that film pro is the complete package, so now that you've got your camera app sorted if you're looking to level up the rest of your filming process when you're creating videos with your android device, then check out the video linked on screen where we take you through our process, and I'll see you in the next one.

Source : Justin Brown - Primal Video