Artificial intelligence is there everywhere you look now, it finds its way into music streaming, social media, video games, internet search engines, and almost every other technological field. Whenever a modern phone or laptop is launched, the first thing that is invariably mentioned is how much artificial intelligence it has on board.
The reach of artificial intelligence also reaches deep into mobile photography. It started with knowledgeable, algorithm-based color and brightness corrections for mobile photos. Now we’ve come to the point where we can place people in photos who weren’t there at the time, or alternatively, remove people and objects from the shot. Both Android and iOS also exploit machine algorithms to make colors in photos “sharper” and make images more animated.
It doesn’t have to be this way. You can still find mobile camera apps that avoid AI and put you back in control, so taking photos is more about framing moments and scenes rather than any AI trick. These are two of the best.
Zerocam
Zerocam proudly promotes its anti-AI ethos, describing itself as “the simplest way to take photos” with the premise being as close to an actual point-and-shoot camera as possible. There’s a natural, genuine look – the app actually records in RAW – and artificial processing is eliminated.
There’s not really much to say about using the app: you frame your shot and press the yellow shutter button (which has a rotating carousel with labels including “zap” and “piu piu”). The only other button on the interface allows you to control the zoom options, which vary depending on the phone you’re using.
At first, working with such a elementary and minimal interface was a bit unnerving, but I quickly got used to it. Just point and shoot without worrying about anything else – and Zerocam social media channel contains tons of examples of the great photos you can take with this app.
The app’s developers are committed to the community and are currently organizing a “365 Challenge” to encourage users to take a photo of themselves for one day. You can see the prompts if you configure the Zerocam widget on your home screen. If you want, you can also launch the app directly from the lock screen.