Old, original post:
I'm wondering what others have found to be the best camera app for the Incredible. I did a few searches in other areas of this forum and seems like overall consensus is Camera Zoom FX. The only issue I've read about it is that it has the possibility of not using certain cameras to their full potential (perhaps will be or already fixed in an update?) because the app was originally created with Android phones with inferior cameras (to the Incred/Nexus One, etc).

What are your experiences? Any other app recommendations? Stick to just the stock camera app?

Thanks in advance.

Update June 2nd:
As far as camera apps go, I kind of answered my own question through testing and some tidbits from members here. I'm still open to any other findings though. Here is the update with some test photos for those who don't want to scroll down and read everything else:

As far as some quick test photos I've done.... here are some examples. Unfortunately they're all down-sized to 72DPI due to me uploading on Facebook, but the original resolution of the photos still shine through.

Raw camera shots:
Flamebroiler, where I go for many of my lunch breaks.



A night time shot of my friend with the default cam



My GF being Iron Man



Terrible Chuck toy before his Ice Man days...


Now here are comparisons and what I was talking about Vignette's filters vs some of the lower res ones.

Here is a Vignette photo of my friend using a Porta filter. I like Vignette because the filters are not overly done and kitsch



Here is one of my friend using FX Camera - just in general, you can notice much lower resolution.. even on the border of the effects. It's not just the filter, pretty much every photo came out kind of like this... which is fine for just phone viewing, but not so much on the computer:



Even at pitch black, using just the flash to take a pic of my GF, Vignette came out less pixelated (though there's still noticeable noise due to lack of light). I wish I had exact photos to make comparisons, but I tested all these shots casually every chance I got:



FXCamera however, does have these fun filters.. unfortunately, even with this pic of another friend, you can see the pixelization:


Camera Zoom FX had more of the filters that FX Camera has, but with higher resolution. However as mentioned before, I prefer the more subtle filters of Vignette, as well as the UI, navigation and within just 2 hours of testing... for whatever reason Camera Zoom FX crashed on me a few times.

Summary: I found that I myself took the best photos using the default camera, autofocus off, and turning the sharpness down because digital cameras tend to exaggerate small details+blemishes (especially at 8mp). I use Vignette if I feel like dressing up some photos I've taken (casually, quickly, and without the troubles of going into Photoshop) or just wanna take some quick snaps of imagery/people. Feel free to read further down into the thread for more details of findings within the time I've tested random settings/apps. My opinions on each changed over the course of playing around with my phone and will possibly change when I find out more things or new apps get released (perhaps one day Photoshop Mobile might actually be a worthy contender).

 

While effects are fun, I want to take as clear of pictures as possible (though I do want something that can take HDR photos, don't think that exists in Android yet). I was actually a little disappointed that the default camera doesn't have anything in the ways of stabilization.

 

Snap Photo didn't work too well on my phone, dunno why. Maybe because I'm using the demo. I have the demo of Vignette and was impressed so far, definitely a consideration to purchase. Wish there was a demo version of Zoom FX. I believe Vignette has a stabilize feature, where it won't take a photo if things aren't stable.

As a side note, just messing with the standard camera app.. I found out taking autofocus off helps ALOT. I just tap on the screen where I want the camera to focus and the pics are faster to take as well as being clearer.

 

Just as a heads up.. I purchased Camera Zoom FX and Vignette. Personally, I'm a fan of Vignette despite everyone praising Camera Zoom FX as the best. Cam Zoom FX does have more doodads and such, as well as plug ins.. but I found most of them in more of the "fun but cheesy" category (similar to what you'd find on Mac Photobooth or Pikura booths). Vignette seems to be a more serious camera app. Vignette's menus are also more straight forward and pictures are taken very fast to good effect, processing takes more time though if you want to dress a photo up with a filter - which leads me to somethines else I like about Vignette.. the way it processes these filters. After you take your quick snapshot, you can apply the filters and it'll give you a high quality preview. If you decide to save the photo with one of the filters.. it then does it in the background.. so you're free to take more photos or even preview more filters on the photo. Very nice and time-saving.

Cam Zoom FX also crashed on me twice until I had to activate my app killer to kill everything else to make it stable. Vignette hasn't crashed yet (I'm sure it'll eventually happen).

This is a personal gripe that no one else would probably even care.. but the final strike vs Cam Zoom FX is that one of the menus uses Papyrus as its font... as a graphic designer.. I shudder everytime I see that font used (yes, even throughout the entire movie of Avatar).

So in the end.. purchased and kept full version of Vignette. I appreciate the fact that they atleast had a demo version available. I uninstalled and got a refund for Cam Zoom FX. This is ofcourse only about 2 hours worth of playing with these two apps (though admittedly, I've had Vignette's demo for 2 days) - so take my opinions for what they are. If I had to give each a rating.. Cam Zoom Fx would probably be like a 3.95-4.0 out of 5 and Vignette would be 4.5-4.75 out of 5.

 

Vignette doesn't have any that I know of, but I guess I didn't really notice because I took a few photos of my GF and none of her pics came out with red eye and she has blue eyes.

One thing I really appreciate about Vignette are the controls while taking the pic. You can easily crop in real time and also you can touch the screen where you want to focus on and it'll take the pic as soon as you let go of the screen. With the default camera, I didn't like how I had to tap it to focus and then take a pic, with such a small device, it can move around ALOT in the time frame between each tap.. on top of the tapping itself moving the phone around.

 

With more experimentation, I'm finding the default camera to be the best so far for just taking raw photos... mainly because I have more control over where to focus, adjusting sharpness, saturation, etc... however, Vignette is still very good for importing photos taken and "dressing" it up very quickly with the nice filters.

Yea and for me, personally this method is more effective with auto-focus off. I noticed with auto-focus on, you might miss a shot because there is a delay in when it'll take pictures between each time it focuses. By taking it off, you have full control on when and what it focuses on, therefore cutting much of the random focuses and potential time+movement between shots (the camera will keep trying to focus and the focal point may not be where you want).

Only time I see autofocus potentially being useful is if you just want to take quick group shots or area shots where focal points aren't as important. Just my personal experiences.

 

They are both great apps, but with PicSay, its more of an editing tool rather than what I was originally looking for.., which is kind of ironic seeing how Vignette has eventually become more of an editing tool for me rather than a pure picture taking app. I still use it to take quick pics from time to time, but if I want to take a detailed shot, I use the default camera. The only issue I have iwth FX Camera is that the resolution seems to be really low (comparatively) on both the effects applied and the picture it takes.

I'm glad my obsession with taking pictures has atleast helped someone. Having a good camera is one of the reasons why I decided to go with the Incredible. It's pretty much a must for all the phone purchases I make because I take a lot of pictures, but never carry my actual camera around.

PS: That Duffee and Russow fight this past weekend was really something, reminded me of a Homer Simpson boxing match.