[Xperia Z1 Themes and Apps] Rumman Shaikh:
We all know that the Stock Sony camera app sucks :P

Superior auto didn't live upto the expectations we had with the hardware(exmor rs sensor,etc,etc) that Sony provided to us ....and naturally we were forced to move to other 3rd party camera apps :-/

But the number of camera apps there is humongous and each and every camera app gave different results,had little different features,making it more difficult to choose one.

Many camera apps were ported from different devices (Z1,LG G2,Samsung S4 Google edition,Lenovo,..) each giving different results but altogether they gave better results than the Stock Camera app.

So I began testing different camera apps,,,ranging from ports to the basic playstore downloadables ..

Had to go through a lot of them ( Z1,LG G2,Samsung S4 Google edition,Lenovo,Camera mx,Camera zoom fx,camera FV-5,and many,many others that I don't remember right now :P)

I found that for full manual(almost) control Camera FV-5 was better than any other app that I tested,and the fact that it could save images in lossless format(PNG),,definitely made it superior.

And then I realised that manual controls was not every one's cup of tea :P, and also not suitable for capturing something real quick :-/

The need for "Full auto" arises

So the search began, all over again....

It finally came to an end on this app by ALMALENCE called 'A Better Camera'

At first I was not impressed by it's clunky UI, it's not bad but not great either,but for full auto mode,does that.really matter??;)

But when I started exploring the app furthermore,I realized that I had a decent set of features.Started clicking photos rightaway :D

It really takes some great photos in all lighting conditions ,and in various scene modes.The photos come out to be really sharp and crisp,color reproduction,saturation,contrast levels were really spot-on.

HDR was the true "icing on the cake" for this app..here I came to know what really HDR is meant to be :P( a little noise is observed here,but can pe reduced from settings)

Panorama can capture full 360 degree resolution(20600 x 1892 ):D

Single Shot Jpeg images come out on an average 2-4 mbs.

Video mode takes decent quality videos too.

So the result was that this was the best camera app that I've tested till now.Also,the developers of this app are currently working on bringing PNG to this app,and hopefully making the UI b a little better :D

So those who are really disappointed by the stock Sony Camera App this is "the best"app to go for...Go ahead and try this app and compare,you'll definitely notice the difference (& upload them here);)

Playstore Link : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.almalence.opencam

For Manual controls : http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=46111181

UPDATE : Sometimes, you simply can't note any differences between images produced by different camera apps,, this is because of the Bravia engine.

The Bravia engine saturates the colors evenly and sharpens the image,improves contrast,fixes exposures,etc,etc:P ... No matter how good or bad the photo has been clicked... and yes that's what it's for,and it does its job pretty neatly.But when u turn that off or transfer it to any other device or PC,, then u can clearly note the minute differences in exposure,saturation,vividness,and the details when fully zoomed in.Try it ;)

If you feel that I've helped you in anyway, please hit the thank button :D