Tag Archives: Vivo Camera Review

Vivo X200 Review: Is It Worth It?

The Vivo X200 series has arrived with a blend of exciting updates and its ongoing collaboration with Zeiss for the cameras. Sporting a triple 50-MP camera setup and a price tag of ₹65,999, Vivo hopes to capture consumers’ attention with its latest offering. But does it deliver? Let’s dive in.

Look, Body, and Feel

Before we get into the cameras, let’s talk about design. The Vivo X200 embraces a flatter profile this time, and I must say, the grip feels excellent. The display is slightly smaller than the X100, and the phone sits comfortably in the hand while maintaining an impressive, modern aesthetic.
That said, the textured edge of the camera module on the back feels awkward. It’s uncomfortable for your finger to rest on – something a cover partially remedies but doesn’t eliminate completely. It’s a small hiccup in an otherwise great in-hand experience.

Camera Setup

The Vivo X200 features a triple 50-MP camera array, complete with the familiar Vario-Tessar label:

Still from our review video
  • Main Camera: 50 MP | Sony IMX921 sensor | CIPA 4.5 stabilization
  • Ultrawide Camera: 50 MP | Samsung JN1 sensor
  • Telephoto Camera: 50 MP | Sony IMX882 sensor | 3x optical zoom | 100x digital zoom |
  • 15 cm macro
  • Front Camera: 32 MP | Ultra-Wide f/2

Also notable is Vivo’s VCS Camera-Bionic Spectrum 2.0 and Super Hard AR Coating on the lenses, alongside the Mediatek Dimensity 9400 processor powering this phone.

Daylight Performance

Main Camera

The main camera shoots at 14.3 MP (23mm) resolution and delivers vibrant, well-saturated images. Shots come out crisp and sharp, even when shooting against the sun. However, you may notice slight lens flaring and over-processing when zooming in, which can reduce overall clarity. Still, the camera handles shadows and highlights decently, brightening darker areas effectively.

Ultrawide Camera

The ultrawide camera uses the Samsung JN1 sensor, capturing shots at 14.28 MP. The natural mode produces pleasing colours with solid saturation and tones. As with the main camera, flaring is noticeable, and over-processing sneaks in when zooming into the details. While shadows and highlights hold up well, slight edge distortion is evident in wide-angle shots.

Telephoto Camera

The telephoto lens drops from 64 MP (X100) to 50 MP. Images shot at 14.3 MP (2X) showcase decent sharpness but are inconsistent at higher focal lengths. Some shots display a reddish tinge and visible over-processing, especially at maximum zoom. That said, most users will appreciate the ability to zoom in – a feature heavily marketed but still inconsistent across Android devices.

Low-Light Performance

Low-light shooting reveals some inconsistencies across the cameras.

Main Camera: Produces sharp, detailed images with excellent colour saturation and reproduction. Even when zoomed in, the results remain impressive.

Ultrawide Camera: Images are slightly underexposed and less saturated compared to the main sensor. Details start to fade on closer inspection, though the colour tones remain appealing.

Telephoto Camera: At 46mm, sharpness holds up, but over-processing is evident. At 3x optical zoom (70mm), underexposure and reddish tones creep in. Moving into digital zoom, performance drops significantly, with yellowish colour shifts and visible noise – a common issue with most phones.

Front Camera

The 32-MP front camera (same as the X100) delivers sharp, detailed selfies. Portraits are clear, with good edge detection and decent background blur. However, zooming to 2x requires a manual pinch-to-zoom, which may confuse users accustomed to dedicated zoom icons.

Portrait Mode

Vivo offers five focal lengths (from 23mm to 100mm) with Zeiss templates for added creative control. Portraits shot in daylight deliver pleasing colours and good saturation. However, noticeable skin smoothening occurs below 85mm, even in the “natural” mode – a surprising find. At 100mm, though, textures appear more realistic. Edge detection and bokeh
quality remain consistent across lighting conditions, with attractive, rounded bokeh in the background. Distortion at extreme focal lengths is noticeable but typical for portrait lenses.

New Features

The Street Photography Camera template is a notable addition for photography enthusiasts. Double-pressing the volume down button opens a Pro-mode-like menu with spot metering (a feature that actually works). While promising, it’s hard to see casual users making full use of it.

Video

The Vivo X200 supports 4K video recording at 60fps, delivering stable, high-quality footage. Autofocus is quick and reliable, and portrait video mode performs decently, though background blur appears artificial at times.

Macro Mode

The super macro mode allows close-up shots with commendable results. Interestingly, the final images look far better than the live preview, indicating strong processing power but weak real-time representation – something Vivo should improve.

Battery and Display

The 5,800mAh battery is a significant upgrade from the X100’s 5,000mAh capacity. It also introduces India’s first Semi-Solid-State Battery, which minimizes heating during heavy usage. In real-world testing, the phone stayed surprisingly cool, though the chilly weather might have helped.

Verdict

The Vivo X200 cameras are a mixed bag. On the plus side, they deliver:
• Vibrant colours and excellent tonal range
• Strong macro performance
• Solid video capabilities
• Impressive battery life
However, the phone falls short in:
• Colour consistency across lenses
• Aggressive skin smoothening in portrait mode (below 85mm)
• Over-processing at higher zoom levels
At ₹65,999, consumers expect a robust, consistent performance across all cameras. While software updates could fix some of these issues, as it stands, the Vivo X200 raises questions despite its promising features. If Vivo addresses these concerns, they could have a winner on their hands.

Vivo X100 Pro Camera Review

The Vivo X100 Pro is the latest flagship from the company and is priced at ₹89,999. This phone was launched in China a recently and made it to India in January this month. Since the time of its rumours, there was a lot of hype about this as being one of the best cameras in a smartphone. The cameras are co-engineered along with Zeiss and it is also the only camera phone to get a certification from Zeiss as well.

Vivo X100 Pro

So, we set out to find out if the cameras are worth all the hype? And put it through all the test to see what it delivers.

The phone that I reviewed was the maxed-out variant with a 16 GB RAM and 256 storages.The phone was also updated with the Fun Touch OS 14 and also is updated to the latest version.

Camera Set Up

At the back, the phone features a three-camera set up, all of which have a 50-MP sensors with a 32-MP camera in the front. What’s interesting is that the X100 Pro comes with a dedicated V3 chip and is also powered by the Mediatek Dimesity 9300 processor, which is the latest flagship from the company.

Vivo X100 Pro Camera

When I look at the cameras at the back, it immediately reminds of the OnePlus Open, which also features a big circular camera module. The shape of the camera set up in the Vivo is inspired by the Solar Eclipse and when you look closely than it actually resembles that design as well. But honestly I am not a fan of such big bumps.

But, you have to give it to Vivo, from the packaging to its build, the phone looks and feels premium. I also loved the small touches that they have given not just in the camera but in general. For instance, the Void warranty sticker in the box. When you peal the sticker, it says void underneath. Or the small letters on top that say Professional Photography. I like the placement of the flash as well.

But while these things are good, because of the texture of the phone, using this without the cover might be difficult. Its slippery and it isn’t the best camera grip on a phone owing to the slimmer and taller form factor.

Daylight Main Camera

The X100 Pro features a 50-mp main camera and inside this houses a 1-inch Sony IMX 989 sensor. And that is also one of the reasons why it needs such a big housing. At 1X the camera much like other phones these days gives you shortcuts to use different focal ranges to shoot from. But the important info is that it shoots a 12.5 MP stacked image from the main camera. You also have the option to choose from three styles and I’ve chosen the Zeiss Natural look for the images shot.

In terms of the images the pics shot on the main camera are pretty good. What I liked the most is that it was able to deliver images and the tonal range very accurately and similar to what your eye is seeing. In terms of sharpness and detail, yes there is a slight over sharpening in some cases, but not something that will bother you. The saturation and colour reproduction of the main camera is also pretty and I was slightly surprised by this. Androids usually have a tendency to over saturate pics and that’s also one of the reasons why I really like the iPhones, coz they reproduce the image the way it is. But in this case the pics are pretty good.

Daylight Ultra-Wide

In the ultra-wide camera, the X100 Pro gives you the option to shoot at 15mm and uses the 50 MP sensor.

Overall in this case also the images were pretty good. The phone delivers good results that are pleasing to the eye and in terms of sharpness like most wide-angle lenses, the images weren’t very sharp. I also felt that the wide-angle lens was displaying a lot of perspective distortion. In most cases the building would come slanted, subjects slightly broader and this is important coz it changes the perspective of the image.

Daylight Telephoto

The telephoto lens of this camera is really special and for me the most impressive as well. It features a 50 MP sensor again and provides 4.3x Optical zoom which can go up all the way to 100x. But what’s important is that it also has a floating lens like the Xiaomi 13 Pro, which means it acts as a good macro lens as well.

The images from the phone are really good and thoroughly impressive in the telephoto category. If you remember, recently I had mentioned that the OnePlus Open has a very good telephoto lens, probably one of the best in the business. But this is even better. The images are sharp, well saturated and also extremely detailed up to 4.3x and up to 10x as well actually.

But beyond 25-30x I just feel that most of these lenses can’t be used anyways. However, the camera does deliver ok images even at the highest focal range.

Lowlight Main Camera

In terms of lowlight with Main camera the images are surely sharp and AI surely does its bit here. You can see that it is over sharpening the images visibly. But to the naked eye they seem pretty good. In terms of accuracy and reproduction, I feel the performance was a mixed one.

In some cases, it would actually reproduce the image exactly how it is and in some it would have a slightly reddish or bluish tinge.

Lowlight Ultra-Wide Camera

In the ultra-wide I shot the same frame as the main camera and you can see the difference in the performance. The picture isn’t that saturated and in this case. It looks more natural and not over sharpened, which I liked a lot.

Again the sharpness is lacking but it was pretty dark. In fact, across the board in the wide pictures I found the images being delivered very accurately.

Lowlight Telephoto

Much like its daylight performance, the images with the telephoto in lowlight are pretty impressive. The colour accuracy is good across the range and also the sharpness that the phone is able to deliver is just great.

Portraits

When it comes to portraits the phone gives you host of focal ranges to shoot fromand also options to shoot with like skin smoothening etc.

But when it comes to performance, the images are pretty good. They are sharp, detailed and look pleasing to the eye. Yes, there is a slightly over saturation when it comes to colours sometimes, but overall the images are good across most conditions. The edge detection is also very good with the phone recognising strands of hair as well and blurring the background.

You also have the portrait package that makes you choose different styles of bokeh. The bokeh performance is decent I would say use the natural setting. So whether in daylight or in lowlight the images in portraits are pretty good in this case.

Macro

With the ability of the phone to get close using the floating lens, the macro images are just great and also very easy to shoot. The output is really good and once you activate the super macro mode then you can get blurred backgrounds as well. For users that like macro, they will really enjoy it as you can see from the images. Yes, the images are slightly over saturated, but I am not complaining. They just look good.

Front Camera

The phone features a front camera with a 32-megapixel sensor and honestly I think all the front cameras across the board need to improve their performance. The images from the front camera are ok. In lowlight you can see visible noise in a backlit scenario and in terms of portraits as well I thought the performance was ok.

The biggest challenge is that in video this shoot up to 1080p, which I think should now be upgraded to 4k. So overall I think the front camera can deliver a much better performance, but yes to do regular things it is pretty decent. 

Video

In terms of video the phone can shoot 8k up to 30 fps from back camera and 4k up to 60 fps and the overall performance in video is decent. The output is good and the phone is able to focus fast as well. The stabilisation is also decent and you have the option to shoot cinematic video etc. as well. And also one thing that I liked is that you can switch between the lenses while shooting.

Other Interesting things

User Interface

The camera UI is very android like and I think if the phone had an overall better UI then it would just be so much more appealing to me. The thing is that we have now been spoilt with the Pixels, iPhones, OnePlus’s that UI is actually one of the reasons why users also don’t change their phones.

Display

The display of the phone is amazing. It features a 6.78 LTPO AMOLED Display with 120 Hz refresh rate. In fact, even the peak brightness is 3000 nits, which is very impressive and you won’t have any challenge using it in daylight conditions.

Conclusion

So how do I find the X100 Pro – I actually want to talk about a couple of things here. First let just talk about the cameras. The performance of the camera is very good. Overall across all cameras the phone is able to deliver sharp well detailed results and it is consistent. And the telephoto in this is really impressive. It really looks like Zeiss and Vivo have worked hard on these cameras.

But and here is a the big but.

While everything about this phone screams premium, its build quality, display, cameras, performance, it truly justifies the price billing of 90k as well. But since the time I have started using this phone there is one thing that is really eating my head. Would a user really spend nearly 90k on a Vivo phone? Because has Vivo been successful in positioning their brand as that premium a product? Because purely from a phones perspective there is nothing that it is doing wrong. It’s fast, it’s light, it’s slim, delivers an awesome performance, and there really isn’t much to complain about.

Text and Images: Bhavya Desai