I wondered if anyone could suggest an app (preferably Open Source) that would enable me to take reasonable photos more easily in a wide range of conditions. I find the default app not particularly quick or easy to use, if I want to do anything more than take snaps. It would be useful to be able to adjust the settings for underground photography, in caves. I have an old digital camera that is easier to use but, is quite old. I thought about replacing it and not using the phone as a camera but, I havenāt managed to find one that I like. I donāt need anything too complex.
Do you use /e/OSā camera app or the one provided by Fairphone?
I think the picture quality of FP camera app is better than the one provided by /e/OS.
Unfortunately they both are just named Camera. If you press and hold the icon of the app and select App Info from the pop-up dialogue you can scroll down to the bottom and find com.fp5.camera for the one provided by Fairphone or foundation.e.camera for the /e/OS one.
Unfortunately I donāt remember where I got the APK of the FP camera from.
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I can recommend GCam ports by BSG, to be found here: BSG GCam APKs - Google Camera Port The latest stable release is here:BSG: MGC_9.3.160_V34
The MGC version runs well on my FP5.
Since quite the beginning I have been using these ported GCam versions because of the inferior quality of both stock and /e/ camera and am quite happy with it
You can choose between different presets (portrait, foto, night sight, panoram and the like) and easily adjust focus, exposure time and ISO manually. Definitly worth a look.
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I was a bit unsure about installing an apk app from outside FDroid but, have done so and am very impressed with it. It is just what I was looking for. Thanks Sebastian. I am going on a trip and will let you know how I get on with GCam.
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The app keeps saying that it canāt save the photos without Google Photos access but, it is saving them on my SD card as usual, so it does not matter.
/e/OS-official for the FP5 should come with the native Fairphone camera app included.
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Mmh, never experienced such a behavior but I also didnāt change the place for photo storage. Sometimes at app start there is an annoying pop-up with the social medai channels of BSG, but thatās it for me. Also, some versions had problems with gallery apps other than Google Photo, but that only resulted in the unability to switch directly to your last shot from the camera app. Gallery app integration works well for me with the latest version and Aves Libre.
As of your hesitance to install APKs from an unknown source: Thatās just reasonable and I myself was reluctant untill I had uploaded some previouse versions to a multi-engine virus scanner some time ago. But I havenāt done that for quite a while now.
āYou just need to enable one setting in Settings > Apps > Fairphone Camera and reboot your phoneā
ā¦ since /e/OS 2.4 (official only, as it seems to have turned out) for Fairphone 4 and 5 ā¦ v2.4-t Ā· e / os / š Releases Ā· GitLab
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I saw that option - have enabled it and rebooted.
Do you by any chance know, if (with this āfeatureā enabled) it is possible to switch between the two UIās/appās? (without the reboot)
Thereās an option to switch between ācamera APIā and āCamera2 APIā - what functionality does that change?
Thanks in advance 
Both apps are available after the reboot. There are two different icons named Camera, the one with the light gray background is the FP app, /e/OSā app has a dark gray background.
I assume the reboot is required to include the FP app to the system (and the application grid)
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Looking forward to it!
https://calyxos.org/news/2021/09/30/gcam-photos-preview/ fixes the gCam preview issue
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I use āOpen cameraā. Activate camera2-api.
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GCam app was really useful on holiday. The photos seemed better but, most importantly, I was able to take panoramic photos easily again, like I used to do on my iphone - thanks very much for the suggestion. I will continue using it as my default camera app.
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Nice to hear that it worked well with the suggested port!
In fact, I have to put the quality into perspective. I myself had taken some comparison photos and, in most, but not all, cases, was simply more convinced of the results of the GCam port.
But the most convincing argument, as you have also noted, is certainly the range and accessibility of functions.
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