My Pixel could never take a photo

Vivo made a breakthrough in the smartphone photography space last year vivo X200 Ultraas it offers an optional telephoto extender. Attached to the 200-megapixel periscope camera, this external lens has enabled native functionality 200mm or ~8.7x magnification. The company has since brought the same lens to the globally available X300 Pro.

Now vivo has launched the X300 Ultra and it retains the optional 8.7x lens. However, the manufacturer has also launched a larger telephoto extender that allows for 400mm or ~17x zoom.

With this setup, I can take legit (ie non-generative) photos that I can’t on the Pixel phone. The whole package is truly ridiculous for more than one reason.

I have to get something out of the way. If you thought the original 200mm external lens was big, you’ll have a heart attack when you see the 400mm version. This thing is absolutely huge and vivo has crossed a line in my book. The size of this lens is especially notable compared to the second-generation 200mm extender (see third lens in the image above), which is slightly smaller and significantly lighter than the original lens.

Things get even worse when you attach the 400mm lens to the phone via the necessary case and adapter ring. This time we still have the bayonet mount, but the new lens is considerably heavier than the 200mm lenses. This makes the phone very heavy when the lens is attached.

Once you attach the lens and open the camera app, you’ll notice that the X300 Ultra trails the X300 Pro by offering one. telephoto extension switch in many camera modes. It’s a more versatile approach than the X200 Ultra and OPPO Find X9 ProSpecial telephoto extender mode. The custom mode meant that many functions and modes didn’t actually work with the external lens.

However, the big difference with the X300 Ultra is that tapping the telephoto extender icon now reveals three external lens options. You have to choose which lens to attach: the original 200mm lens, the smaller, second-generation 200mm lens (also known as the G2), or the 400mm extender (G2 Ultra). This is an understandable move, as it probably configures the camera interface and other settings accordingly.

OK – but what about the photos?

One of the first things I noticed when using the 400mm telephoto converter is that it has a very long minimum focus distance. To photograph it, you literally have to stand four or five meters (13-16 feet) away from the subject. In comparison, a 200mm lens has a minimum focusing distance of about one meter (~3 feet). This is an understandable limitation given the long range, but it makes the lens less universal.

Thankfully, I found that the 400mm lens helped me get some fantastic long-range zoom shots. I took the phone and lens to the beach and shot people on a nearby mountain. Seriously.

I’m still not a fan of over-sharpening here (especially on rocks), although you can use image profiles to tone it down if needed. Regardless, it’s a pretty cool demonstration of what’s possible with this lens. And as you can see in the image above, shooting at 800mm gave me some leeway for cropping. Yes, it’s a hiker taking a selfie on top of a mountain.

How far can you go before things start to look confusing? I found I could still take great pictures at 800mm. Image quality was a gamble at 1600mm, with fringing and a lack of actual detail being the two biggest issues at this range. Meanwhile, 3200mm photos were often a mess. If you’re photographing a distant subject on a hot day, even 800mm shots can be riddled with the inevitable heat haze (see third photo and cropped version below). This may be obvious to many people, but it’s worth remembering nonetheless.

Like many other phones, vivo’s algorithms and AI-driven enhancements can tackle complex textures over long distances. Check out the brickwork that appears to be painted on the building in the second shot below.

Nevertheless, the 400mm extra lens allows you to take some high-quality photos from a distance. It also doesn’t hurt that it delivers some nice shallow depth of field effects. Again, we see some issues at longer distances, but I was happy with most of these snaps. And you generally won’t get those kinds of long-distance photos from a Samsung or Pixel phone. Check out the gallery below.

Another thing I really like about the 400mm lens is that vivo supports new custom picture profiles. The company lets you create image profiles by choosing a basic style and then adjusting up to 12 settings. These variables include exposure, halo, grain, warmth/hues, highlights, shadows, and sharpness. I chose a profile with sharply reduced sharpness and plenty of grain. As a result, I took some moody photos on the race track. Maybe the elegance isn’t for everyone, but I loved the orange Porsche’s hood. Plus, you can always use a grain slider to reduce the effect.

I never spent any time with the 400mm lens in low-light scenes, but my time with the original 200mm teleconverter produced darker images than shooting without the lens. This is likely due to vivo not being able to use a more capable main camera for image fusion under these conditions. So I don’t expect anything different from that point of view.

Either way, there’s no shortage of tools at your disposal when mounting a 400mm lens. This includes support for full-resolution 200MP shots, ultra-stabilized video (up to 2.8K/60fps), 4K/120fps capture, Intro video, preset and custom audio recording profiles, and a pro video mode. This is in addition to the aforementioned support for color profiles. Given the wide 2.4:1 aspect ratio, you can’t use the Movie Style video recording mode.

When I first tested the vivo X200 Ultra and its 200mm lens a year ago, I thought the negatives outweighed the positives. Then the X300 Pro arrived with an overhauled app experience and offered a better, more reliable external lens. Unfortunately, I would argue that the 400mm lens also has more cons than pros.

You can take some really fantastic long-range zoom photos while there’s no shortage of getting the perfect shot. However, I think a 400mm lens is simply too heavy and awkward for most people. If you reluctantly I assumed the 200mm lens size, then I guess the 400mm option is out of the question for you. The new lens is bigger and heavier, but also makes your phone heavier than the old attachment. This is especially notable given that vivo has also released a smaller, lighter 200mm lens.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to buy special cameras and lenses. Your phone will always be with you, so carrying a 400mm lens is still more convenient than carrying a digital camera and lenses in addition to your smartphone. This means that the phone and lens combo will continue to be useful for travel and sightseeing enthusiasts, or for smartphone photography enthusiasts who can already carry additional hardware.

However, this 400mm attachment may be the biggest problem for the lens Find the X9 Ultra. OPPO’s upcoming phone will have a 50MP 10x camera and it will also be launched in global markets. So instead of jumping on the X300 Ultra and its big telephoto extender, you might want to wait for this phone with its integrated camera.