In my opinion, when using a Pixel phone the Google Camera app is by far the best in photo quality. Prior to purchasing a Pixel device I’ve used Open Camera a lot for it’s decent quality, considerable amount of manual configuration, and for the fact it’s completely open source and a trusted piece of software. The Google Camera app is exclusive to some phones, so this won’t really effect other devices, but again on a Pixel phone Google Camera really outshines the image quality over most other camera apps on Pixel phones.
The thing is, if you are using an operating system like Graphene OS, Lineage without Google Services, and any other de-googled system Google Camera will just tell you to install Google Services. In the case of Graphene the preinstalled camera does compare in quality to Google Camera in ideal conditions, however, it still lacks tools like night sight.
Some people can get around Google Services by installing Micro G, but I stumbled into a little gem that can get around that. On the F Droid store there is an app called Gcam Services Provider, which pretends to be Google Services for the Google Camera app. All you need to do is install it and it will trick Google Camera into thinking that you’re running a device with Google Services installed, and it will allow Google Camera to run just as it would with Google Services actually working.
It sounds too good to be true, but it really is just that simple.
When searching this out on the internet I kept getting told that in
order to run Google Camera I’d have to install Micro G or Google
Services, so I thought I would put this out there to help anybody who
is searching out how to run Google Camera but doesn’t consider night
sight worth it to install some form of Google Services on their device.
Just keep in mind that you cannot install any for of Google Services on
any profile while you have Gcam Services Provider installed.