The camera in your Android device can vary from exceptional to terrible, depending on the model of phone you have, and even the version of Android you're running. Luckily, there are tons of apps to help you make the most of the camera you have, whether it's good or bad, and even help you take, edit, and share better photos. Here are some of the best.


Camera ZOOM FX


Camera ZOOM FX ($3), our favorite camera app for Android is still a must-have on any device, even if your default camera app is powerful. It's packed with features to help you take better pictures, like a stable-shot mode that only snaps the photo when the camera is steady enough to take a clear photo, a voice-activated shooting mode, tap-to-focus and tap-to-snap photo modes, and overlay grids that help you keep the Rule of Thirds or the Golden Ratio in mind when you're composing a shot.

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It's also picked up a number of updates recently to sweeten the pot, and built-in sharing features make it easy to take a photo and immediately send it to the person or app you want the photo to go to. If you'd rather dress up the photo first, Camera ZOOM FX also lets you add filters, color effects, frames, and borders to your photo, and it even packs some light image editing features as well. If you don't like what's in the app, you can download free filter, frame, or other effect packs from Google Play to plug in to the app.

Camera FV-5

Camera FV-5 ($4, Free "Lite" version) has been in the background for a while, but it's come a long way since we last looked at it. If you don't like Camera ZOOM FX or want another option, give this a try. It's packed with some similar features, but it tries to give you move control over specific photo elements and camera controls that you may not have access to, like exposure time, aperture, stops, light metering, white balance, and more. You can bind any of those settings or controls to the volume keys, and the app even supports long exposures and time-lapses. The viewfinder even packs a live RGB histogram. The developers have gone out of their way to make the app as much of a professional viewfinder as possible. If it's overwhelming, that's okay—they have plenty of information on the developer's website and tutorials on their YouTube channel.


Snapseed


Snapseed (Free) is your favorite photo filter app, but it can do more than just apply filters and effects to photos before you share or post them to the web. Snapseed's Auto Correct feature actually really improves your photos, corrects common issues, and makes them look sharp and ready to share.

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If you don't trust the app to do everything for you, Snapseed also gives you control over what you change. Selective Adjust allows you to tweak just specific parts of an image, while Tune Image lets you tweak the overall atmosphere of the shot. The app also lets you do some editing, including rotations, crops and resizes, and more. You can even apply photo filters, transform your landscape photos into tilt-shift masterpieces, change the focus after the photo's taken, and more. Best of all, it's totally free. Admittedly, it was last updated in October, and since Google purchased it, their priorities have been elsewhere (largely at Google+, more on that later), but it's a great app.

VSCO Cam


Much like its iOS counterpart, VSCO Cam (Free) is full of photo filters, is easy to use, and even has some more advanced editing and tweaking options to let you control what your final image looks like when you're all said and done with it. You can go with general tools and tweaks, or you can get down into fine, discrete editing options, it's up to you. VSCO Cam's preset packs are some of its most powerful features, and give you a way to easily process your photos into a specific look with a few taps, automatically, without you having to fiddle with settings before or after you take every shot.


Also, much like the iOS version, you can upload your photos to your own VSCO Grid, where you can make your photos public, private, license or copyright them, list them as Creative Commons, or just join a community of other photographers. Read more at the developer's site.

Pixlr Express


Pixlr Express, the previously mentioned mobile version of one of your favorite Photoshop alternatives, is actually quite powerful and easy to use, even on the go. Like most other tools here, it supports basic editing (crop, resize, rotate, etc) and it sports automatic image correction to fix common problems and make subtle improvements to your shots. Where Pixlr Express stands out though is in its interface. If you want power but you don't want to dig through tons of menus or settings screens to get to it, this app is for you. Options are laid out over your image in boxes and selectable buttons that show you instantly what the effect will be on the final photo. From there though, it's less about "editing" your photo and more about personalizing it—overlays and filter options let you change the mood and feel of the shot, add borders, and customize the final product with stickers.


Adobe Photoshop Touch

If Photoshop is your preferred editor on the desktop and you want a familiar layout, feature set, terminology, and overall approach to editing photos, Photoshop Touch ($5 for phones, $10 for tablets) is the way to go. Make no mistake though, the mobile version doesn't have all of the same features—it can be fiddly sometimes, not horribly optimized for smaller or touch screens, and definitely a bit of a battery hog. However, what you get is an editing tool that supports layers, adjustments, filters, selection tools, filter effects and presets, and more. Photoshop Touch also packs strokes, drop shadows, image effects and multiple tools, brushes, and objects. If you have a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, you can work on an image on your phone or tablet, save it, and then pick up where you left off on your desktop or laptop later.


Photo Editor by Aviary


Photo Editor by Aviary (Free) is one of our favorite mobile editing tools. It's not as powerful as some of the other options here, and it's not going to blow you out of the water with discrete tweaks and features, but it does give you editing options that are powerful enough to get the job done in most cases, and get them done quickly and easily without risking the original photos. Aviary's one-tap auto-enhance is fantastic to use, and unlike other tools, it fixes more than it ruins. You can easily tweak color temperature, remove blur or fuzziness, adjust brightness and contrast, crop and rotate your shot, or straighten it if it's just a little off-kilter. It's simple, and if you don't have a lot of time to pore over a shot, it definitely pulls its weight.

Dropbox and/or Google+


If you take a ton of photos with your smartphone, the fastest way to get them off of your device and somewhere you can edit them, post them to your favorite image hosting site or social network, or just archive them for safe keeping is to use Dropbox or Google+. Both the Dropbox app for Android and the Google+ app for Android feature automatic upload for all of the photos you take, so you can snap away knowing your shots are safely backed up elsewhere as you take them.

Of course, each service has their own pros and cons when it comes to photo hosting and sharing, and the one you should use (if not both, that's what I do) depends heavily on what you want to do with your photos once they're off your phone. Google+ offers strong editing and tweaking tools (thanks to its acquisition of Snapseed), while Dropbox leaves the raw files right there on your desktop for you to tweak and edit with another application if you prefer.


Honorable Mentions

Android photography apps have come far from the early days, when there were a few great camera replacement apps but no image editors. However, while there are some great tools available to take better photos and edit them before you share them, a lot of the photography apps at Google Play are little more than garish filter packs, gimmicky apps that ruin more photos than they improve, and repackaged, bloated versions of old apps. Still, here are a few you might want to keep around that we didn't include above:


You don't have to install all of these, or even most of them. Just pick the tools that work the best for you and your Android device. The key is to find tools that will help you compose, snap, edit, and enjoy the best possible photos you can with the hardware you have. Even if you have a crummy old phone with a mediocre camera, some of these tools can help—and while none of them will transform you into a master photographer, the best ones can teach you a few things and cover for your mistakes.

Title photo by Radu Bercan (Shutterstock), Siarhei Tolak (Shutterstock), and Visual Idiot (Shutterstock).