How to Take Photos on Android Without All the Post-Processing Junk

Your phone’s camera does so much filtering, processing, and AI adjustments, it can make you question reality itself. In a world where Google can put you into photos you take, what's even real? If you'd rather avoid letting your phone decide what your photos look like, here's how to take control back from your camera app.

Since Android is an open platform, the default apps on your phone may be different from someone else's. The various settings and apps I reference may be different on some phones, and some apps might not be compatible with all devices, but there are usually options that will work for you.

Switch to RAW photos (where available)

Much like higher-end cameras, many smartphones can now take RAW photos. These are specially encoded versions of photos that store all of the data your camera's sensor captures, uncompressed, in an easy-to-edit format. Some phones, like the Google Pixel phones, will take a RAW photo and a processed JPEG at the same time, allowing you to get the best of both worlds. 

On Google Pixel devices, you can swap to this mode by tapping the Settings icon on the bottom left of the camera app, selecting the Pro tab, and toggle on RAW/JPEG. The setting may be different on some phones, so poke around in your camera's app to see what you can find.

Once you have a RAW photo, you can use apps like Adobe's Lightroom to edit photos how you prefer. You can adjust exposure levels, tweak highlights and shadows, or alter color tint to get a more realistic—or a more stylized—look.

Use ZeroCam for one-button simplicity

If your phone doesn't support RAW photos—or if you prefer a simpler camera experience—ZeroCam is a handy alternative. This app has exactly one feature: It takes photos without any filtering or post processing. There are no sliders or adjustments, just a shutter button to take a photo. If your phone has multiple lenses, you can tap to swap between them, but there's not much else to the app.

The one major downside of this app is that it’s only free on a trial basis (one week if you go for the annual plan, three days if you choose monthly), after which you’ll need to pay for a subscription. The good news is the service is dirt cheap at $1/month or $7.49 for a year, so it's not a huge expense, especially if the simplicity helps you focus more on the moment than what you’re using to capture it.

Get more control with Camera FV-5

I'll let you in on a little secret: Even when you shoot RAW photos, your phone's manufacturer is still making some decisions about what your photos are going to look like. That's because your camera has to automatically make decisions about things like ISO level, shutter speed, focus, or even which lens to use. If you want to get maximum control, you'll want an app like the Camera FV-5 Lite.

This app gives you controls to adjust ISO, shutter speed, white balance, and other settings to get the exact shot you want. It also has some nice advanced features like burst photo mode, and automatic exposure bracketing. Some features—including capturing photos in RAW format—are only available in the paid version, which costs a one-time fee of $5.

Pro controls for video with Blackmagic Camera

Blackmagic is best known for its suite of excellent cinema cameras and free Davinci Resolve editing suite. The software that runs on Blackmagic’s cameras is some of the best and most intuitive in the business, and now you can get it on your phone with the Blackmagic Camera app. Well, some phones. It works on most of the recent flagship phones from Samsung, Google, OnePlus, and a few other manufacturers; you can check the full list of supported devices here.

The Blackmagic Camera app technically only supports recording video, so if you primarily want photos, you might want to go with one of the other options on this list. However, this app is peerless for videographers. In addition to pro camera controls, it includes handy features like an RGB histogram and image stabilization to get the perfect shot.

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