Looking for an Alternative to Instagram?

It seems strange that even as photography gets better and better allowing us to capture some simply stunning images on digital SLR’s and even our mobile phones that we should be so enthralled by an app that makes our pictures look like they were taken by an old fashioned film camera.

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This week the Instagram app reached a download figure of over 12 million. You can download it in a wide range of languages making this a universally loved app. And there are plenty of competitor apps out there too all trying to take a piece of this growing market.

Unless you have an iPhone you cannot use the Instagram app (although there are plans to expand to Android) so what are the options for Android, Windows or Blackberry users?

We’ve trawled sites looking for some of the best alternatives plus some other great effects apps on the market:

Vignette – £2.49 Android market

Featuring 84 effects and 59 frames including vintage and retro styles, you can try before you buy with the demo version. Vignette also supports the full resolution of your camera plus the flash. Over 6,000 users have voted it 4 out of 5.

Paper Camera – £1.19 Android Market

Although not an Instagram clone this clever app turns your camera into an instant comic book creator by turning your photos into cartoons.  You can even view the world through the cartoon effect before you take your photo which sounds pretty cool.

Over 3,000 users rate it highly at 4.5 out of 5.

Rollip – free

Rollip is an online photo editor that allows you to chose an effect then upload your image. The process can seem a little slow but the results are worth waiting for. Once the image is ready you can share via Facebook or Twitter.

Picplz – free Android Market

Image http://picplz.com/user/masenex/pic/fj11h/

This nifty little app has only 17 filters to choose from but they look pretty impressive. After clicking the camera button it takes your photo with your default camera and then takes you back to the app where you can play around with the filters with the live preview. Once you’ve chosen you can share by picking your social network.

Picnik – free

Picnik is another online photo editor that has been around for some time now (since 2005) and allows you not only to add different effects to your photos but also crop, re-size and re-touch them for problems like red eye. There is a premium version that costs $2.08 a month. With around 30 effects plus sticker effects and more, Picnik can be great fun to play with.

Use an app that you just want to shout about? We’d love it if you’d share your camera app secret with us. Add your own camera app review here.