Camera

Windows 11 comes with a basic Camera app that you can use to take photos and videos with your PC's cameras. It even provides some scanning capabilities.
Get to know the Camera app
Anyone who has used the Camera app on their smartphone will find the Windows 11 Camera app to be immediately familiar. It provides a large viewfinder for the default camera and then sets of controls on the side(s) of the viewfinder.

If your PC has two or more cameras attached to it, a "Change camera" button will appear at the top right of the app. You can click this to toggle between the available cameras.

Below that, you will see various buttons that let you select which mode the Camera app is in. It defaults to camera mode, but you can also switch to Video, Document, Whiteboard, or Bar Code modes.

Then, at the bottom right, you will find a Camera roll control that displays a still of the last photo or video you took with the app. If you click this item, the Camera app will display its Camera roll view, which lets you access any content you've captured during the current session.

In the Camera roll view, you move between the available content using the arrow keys on your keyboard, perform light editing (rotate, crop, etc.), share content, and so on. An "Open the Photos app" button in the top left will do as described and let you edit this and other Camera-captured content in the Photos app.
Click the "Back" ("<-") button in the upper left corner of the Camera app window to leave the Camera roll view.
Configure the Camera app and your PC's cameras
The Camera app offers a settings interface, but your PC's cameras are configured elsewhere.
Configure the Camera app
The Camera app is configured in Camera settings, which is accessible via the Settings button in the upper left of the app window.

Key settings here include:

Camera settings, Show advanced controls for photos and videos. By default, the Camera app's Camera mode provides a set of camera option buttons to the left of the viewfinder. These options vary by camera, but they can include such things as HDR, Photo timer, and Zoom. If you enable this option, you will see more controls in the Camera view (and in the Video view, which doesn't typically display any option buttons.) These advanced controls can include Manual focus, Brightness, White balance, ISO, Shutter speed, and more.

Camera settings, Framing grid. The Camera app lets you optionally enable a framing grid of horizontal and vertical lines that can help you frame and compose the image or video you're taking. There are several choices--Rule of thirds, Golden ratio, and others--each of which is based on a common photographic guideline.

Photo settings, Photo quality. By default, the Camera app will take photos at the highest possible resolution supported by your camera. But you can use this setting to configure a different resolution and, in many cases, other aspect ratios too.

Photo settings, Time laps...