One of the biggest gaps in innovation in a smartphone relates to photography; But while traditional cameras know how to leverage the best of technology to improve results, with mobile photography it’s already like that. In fact, as my colleague Ricardo Aguilar points out: mobile phones must learn to handle cameras. Because today AI and processing sometimes work wonders, sometimes wreak havoc.

The problem is not in the components of the phones (I usually use high-end phones, so on paper they are the best), but in the software: this is difficult to achieve A quality and realistic photo taken with a mobile phone. Under the pretext of eliminating noise and increasing contrast, we see photographs that, when zoomed in, reveal the disaster in the form of a watercolor effect. Excessive and abusive processing is a crime.

Coatings with colors that do not exist in real life, extremely bright yellows, ultra-clear lines… I see this in both cheap phones and high-end phones. When it comes to flagships, it’s more about the processing than the quality of the lens. Yes, there are manufacturers that offer professional modes or RAW format so that you can edit the parameters yourself, but it’s bad if the software steps in to modify the photo. For this reason I tried a very simple camera app that shoots bareback.

Zerocam: artefact-free photography

Faced with the trend of pushing innovation through software in photography, Zerocam (available for free on the Google Play Store) offers the exact opposite and couldn’t be simpler: it claims to take photos with the sensor without any processing. processing or artificial intelligence. Come on what the image it captures is devoid of artifact. Be careful, which means not using HDR.

Left: Google Pixel camera. Right: Zero camera

As you can see in the comparison of the photos I illustrated the article with, the results are much flatter, without saturation or colors that stand out. In short, For better or worse, it’s a much more natural photo.. In this article I compared it with the Google Pixel camera, which in my opinion is one of the software that has more accurate processing but is still worth Zerocam in different scenarios.

However, I have to say that overall I was much more satisfied with the result obtained with Zerocam and the retouching done afterwards. Together Saved in RAWIdeal if what you’re interested in is getting into a photo editing program later. By the way, one thing I observed is that the photos taken with Zerocam are heavier than standard photos.

Left: Google Pixel camera. Right: Zero camera

Zerocam is simplicity on all four sides: not only photo without insertion, but its interface requires no explanation: the image to be photographed in the center, the large yellow oval button for shooting and 1x that allows you to change magnifications from 1x to 2x. We also see a counter in the upper right corner that shows how many photos we have left to take for free today. You can see a screenshot of the interface in the photo on the cover of this article.

Because Zerocam is paid: 1.99 euros per month or 10.99 euros per year We have five free photos a day. Considering there is no cloud storage, processing or extra functions at checkout, the biggest advantage of paying is being able to take photos without thinking too much (like we do now with a mobile phone, but not before, when we are connected to a mobile device). movie), if you want to use it for free, it may be sufficient for testing or for certain projects that are not too complex.

Cover | Eva Rodríguez de Luis

Xataka on Android | I was looking for a simple free photo gallery app and I found this gem. I liked it so much I don’t use Google Photos anymore

via | Spanish