Camera Zoom FX 2.0.0

AndroidSlide CameraZoomFX v2.0.0 Review

The image quality from a 3.2 megapixel camera phone is always going to be a big suspect. The G1 is no exception, particularly since is lacks any sort of flash. While the camera is perfectly suitable for day to day photos, you may not want to use it to capture your child’s first birthday. The camera on the G1 is further crippled by mediocre software which doesn’t allow simple functionality such as a digital zoom.

CameraZoomFX steps in to provide the functionality you’ve been missing in the base camera software and more. Not only does this app, which is available on the Market for £1.29, provide a 6x digital zoom, it offers a wealth of image filters you’d normally have to look to Photoshop to provide.

CameraZoomFX offers the following features:

40 photo fx! (pencil, fisheye, filmreel, etc.)
circular zoom wheel (6x zoom)
upscale zoomed images
tap screen to snap shot
timer + sound effect
auto focus on / off
burst mode up to 16 shots
photo booth = quad camera!
stable shot including stability meter
sound activate
props, borders and famous ‘buddies’ in your pictures
customizable grid overlays
whitebalance
nightshot
geotag
customize every hardware button
send, share
1-click upload facebook, twitter, myspace
built for Donut
silent mode
antibanding (for TV / computer monitors)
auto save option

The app opens to a menu broken down into six general filter groups, Normal Camera, Art FX, Color FX, Distort FX, Frame FX and Mirror FX. Each provides a set of a dozen or so filters which are applied to your image.

You select the filter you wish to use and the camera interface is launched. You have a slider you can use to adjust the digital zoom and you touch anyplace on the screen (or use the camera button or trackball) to take your picture. As soon as the image is captured, the phone processes the photo, which can be almost instant or take over ten seconds depending on the filter you use. You will be shown the modified image to save, discard, share or upload.

Missing from this application is the ability to edit your already save photos. This functionality would greatly improve this application as it would allow you to take a number of photos without the processing delay and apply the effects at a later time.

Some of the available effects are quite original and nice, such as the dated Polaroid, while others such as dissolve seem heavy handed. The application also is missing a settings menu.

The image quality largely seems to be what you’d expect from a camera phone and aside from a few of the effects, doesn’t seem to suffer from the processing. Like apps such as PicSay, its usefulness is based on how you use your camera, but if you are frequently taking pictures and wish you could modify them, there isn’t a better option than CameraZoomFX.

The following are sample images taken with CameraZoomFX.

Normal

ArtFX

ColorFX

DistortFX

FrameFX

MirrorFX