Unable to afford a Google-free phone, I strictly use Moto, which with a bit of adb work and a lot of disabling shitware, gets close to actual Android. They also have excellent glass, aside from doing all I require of them.
I see criticism of Open Cam already, but I recommend trying it, with patience, and seeing what it can do. All my art images, all my videos, are all taken with open camera.
Edit: for the macro setting, it allows fine tuning, but the manual focus and manual zoom functions are superb for my purposes.
Edit2: Maybe irrelevant, but I always disable the stock camera and anything camera related. Not sure if that helps, but I know I don't want any fucking thing to do with shitware, so go as nuclear as possible.
Dismissing the stock apps as "shitware" without bothering to try them or offer specific examples of areas where Opencam is better does not inspire confidence in your opinions.
Full manual controls does not mean "better". I've been a photographer for more than 20 years using everything from fully-manual (no battery) film setups through modern mirrorless bodies. I know the tradeoffs between shutter speed, ISO, and aperture, I know how to manual focus.
....and most of the time I don't want any of those, especially on a phone, where I want a clear photo of a stationary object and the phone's automatic settings get it right the first time.
If something allows full manual controls but takes two seconds longer to be ready to shoot it is significantly worse as a camera for most of my use cases.
I'm not asking for confidence. Folks can use their own critical thinking and judgement. I expressed sincerity. Some concur, some don't. I'm not trying and will not try to please everyone.
The current state of software is to some, myself, deeply offensive and many have passionate opposition to it. If you are into stockware, you won't ever find me in your way. But you'll not bully me into not expressing my opinion either. Shitware defines it perfectly to the very type of person bothering to use Fdroid and freedom respecting devices.
What dark patterns is the Pixel Camera app using, or what bad things is it doing with my data? In what way is my camera app infringing on my freedom? "It was written by company X I don't like" is not an answer - why should I replace my camera app specifically?
One negative of the Pixel camera app is that it forces Google Photos as the gallery app, even if Google Photos is disabled or not installed on the phone. I think there is a third-party shim app that essentially redirects requests to Google Photos towards whatever gallery app is set as default, but that should not be necessary.
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@Arainach - Because the option to reply is disabled:
I am not sure, as I haven't used that app. What I can say, which may or may not be relevant to you is as follows:
1) Open any Google based device and do the equivalent of /Settings/System/DeveloperOptions/RunningServices/GooglePlayServices
You can peruse around just Running Services if you please, and see plenty there, but be sure to view Show Cached Processes too.
Under Play Services, you will see approximately 24 services, some reasonable, some not. Crisis Alert, Emergency Services, Vestiges of Contact Tracing rebranded, etc.
Try using Google Maps without BT and WiFi scanning, and just pure GPS. Maps won't work.
Try disabling Google Play services, or Play Store and watch Fdroid apps break, and the phone malfunction.
2) Go to /Settings/Apps/See All/Show System and behold a plethora of verified shitware, much of which cannot be removed even through ABD.
Then ask yourself Why? Most of these services are unnecessary. You, presumably, purchased, rather than leased or rented your device. So why can you cannot decide what runs on it? Many do not care. I do. I get zero reimbursement for this data mining shitware.
...or me, I say, if they need that shitware running so badly, buy their own phone and stick it where ever they want, but not on my person. We have entered a paradigm where everyone thinks Because They Can, they can just do whatever they choose on the devices of others. And what happens? We get stronger and stronger devices while the landfills engorge with waste, so that we can support a metadata whorehouse on our personal devices. If you support that, I do not oppose you, I oppose it on my system, as do others, which are the type of people I tend to direct such comments to.
No offense was intended. A comment above drops in merely to say Open Cam 'kinda sucks'. I do not downvote it, nor do I agree. I just carry on.