If you have even a passing interest in creative photography or videography, it would benefit you to know your way around the more advanced settings for mobile cameras. Most devices, including iPhone, Pixel, and Samsung Galaxy models, offer a pro-level mode that allows you to adjust a host of settings related to the camera to really fine-tune the shots you’re capturing. But to keep casual users happy, a majority of device manufacturers also add software features that automatically enhance the captured media, which can result in overprocessed, overexposed, or oversharpened content — both photos and videos can end up this way. The problem with video recording on Android is that you cannot turn this off; with photos, you can. Apple addresses this with its log video format on iPhones, which is a lot like RAW, to deliver a flat, desaturated image for proper color grading. Pixel and many Android phones have nothing like that. At least, they don’t natively.
A new app called Native Camera aims to fix this problem. While it was initially designed for Pixel devices, it’s also available for any compatible Android device. It “unlocks the raw power of your device,” basically allowing you to use the standard camera hardware, altogether bypassing any software or default image processing. You get as close to a clean video stream as possible, allowing you to fine-tune later through post-processing and editing of your own volition. Or, you can simply use the video as-is in its clear, original form.
Native Camera isn’t the only app that does this. You could also try out alternatives like Open Camera or ProShot, but the point is you’ll need a third-party tool to peel away the deceptive processing on some devices.
Why would you want an app like Native Camera?
Try as you might, even with the best of the best camera tips and tricks for your Google Pixel, you’re not stripping away the digital processing applied to your videos without any extra help. Newer models also take it a step further by moving camera processing off-device and into the cloud, which can lead to some less-than-stellar experiences. That processing can also make subjects, especially people, look odd in the finished videos. If you’re a creative who wants full control over the exposure, sharpness, color grading, and general feel of your video content, you need to enlist help, and that’s where apps like Native Camera come into the equation. It’s a shame because so many modern devices, from the latest Pixel to the latest Galaxy models, have really, really good cameras that would be capable of pro-level video shots.
What’s also interesting is that your Android camera can do more than just take photos and videos. With apps, the camera can be repurposed in a variety of ways, beyond traditional capture. If it can measure heart rates, scan barcodes and groceries, help the vision impaired, or analyze your body, surely there’s a way to get the native, unadulterated video feed into a recording? Especially when you can install an Android app that makes your photos look like they come from a compact camera rather than a phone.
Apps like Native Camera and Open Camera allow precisely that. They give you not only clean, raw video recordings but also unedited, unprocessed versions you can then adjust yourself.
