Both the iOS App Store and the Android Market offer an abundance of camera apps. There are so many, that it takes either great functionality or a unique twist for an app to stand out. One that does so is Paper Camera, available as both an Android and an iPhone/iPad app. Paper Camera lets you use your camera to output real time cartoon and painting effects that have to be seen to appreciated.

I’ve tried out Paper Camera on Android, so I can’t speak for the iOS version. On Android, the app takes a few seconds to start, but when it does you’re presented with a unique interface, that almost looks hand-sketched.

From that interface, you select the effects you want by scrolling through options. The effects include ones called Sketch Up (your image looks like a sketch), Comic Book (your image looks like it jumped off the pages of a comic book), Old Printer (your image will look pixelated, like it was printed with an old printer), Neon Cola (your image will have parts of it outlined in Neon), Pastel Perfect (your image will be shaded in pastel tones), and a few others.

You’re also presented with sliders to adjust the contrast, brightness, and lines, and buttons to zoom in and zoom out. There’s a button to take the photo, and one to go to your photo gallery. If you go to the gallery, you can select a photo, which will then be imported into the app. From there, you can apply the same effects that you can to photos taken from directly within the app.

There’s also a share button and an email button on the screen, but they’re not there to let you share your photos. Instead, they only let you share news of the app or email the developer, respectively.

Paper Camera is one of those apps that, when I’ve shown it to people, they’ll often pick up their phone, head to the App Store or Android Market, and download it. It’s currently $1.99 in the Android Market, and $0.99 in the App Store.

Paper Camera [iOS] [Android]