Vivo’s real success with its premium X series of smartphones took off with the X70 Pro+, in 2021. Back then, I compared it with Xiaomi’s mega Mi 11 Ultra and the X70 Pro+ made good use of its unique gimbal stabilisation system (it also introduced its V1 imaging chip), which provided good stability while shooting video in all types of lighting conditions. Next up was the Vivo X80 Pro, which was a worthy successor to the same, it introduced features like a hand-held astrophotography mode and
Vivo X100 Pro primary camera sample (tap image to expand)
Vivo’s X100 Pro excels in detail and dynamic range in low light (tap image to expand)
The primary camera captures some really detailed photos without going overboard with sharpening, which is typical of most smartphones these days. The photos no matter the lighting condition seem to pack in detailed textures accompanied by excellent dynamic range (an area where the Pixel 8 Pro faltered at times), which seemed to be spot on, getting enough details in the shadows without getting too contrasty. Bright lights are also handled well, thanks to the multi-lens Zeiss T* coating which drastically reduces lens flare especially when shooting under street lit conditions at night.
The highlight of this year’s camera setup is indeed the new telephoto camera. Typical periscope telephoto camera aside, Vivo along with Zeiss managed to squeeze in another lens which is placed in front of the prism. This basically lets users shoot close-ups of objects or people at 4.3X zoom, without distancing themselves too far away from the subject, which is a big advantage when it comes to shooting portrait photos.
Vivo X100 Pro telephoto camera samples. Top to bottom: 1X, 4.3X (tap images to expand)
When shooting portraits using the Portrait camera mode, Vivo lets you select specific professional portrait focal lengths (24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm) which have been optimised keeping in mind the camera sensors and lenses. Portrait photos captured at all of these focal lengths came out well with excellent detail even under artificial or low light conditions.
While I loved using the various software enabled Zeiss Style portrait modes, I found these images to be a bit soft compared to shooting in the regular Photo camera mode at its native 4.3X focal length, which was tack sharp (with granular detail) and still had enough natural bokeh, which is perfect for portraits.
Vivo X100 Pro’s zoom image quality is impressive but not as capable as the Galaxy S23 Ultra (tap image to expand)
As for zoom range, the phone is capable of shooting as far as 100X using hybrid zoom. The Vivo X100 Pro’s capabilities here are not as great as the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s telephoto mainly because of its limited native telephoto camera (4.3X versus 10X) and the fact that the former is geared more towards portraits than all out zoom. One can get great photos up to 10X which pack in good detail and texture, but it all starts to fall apart beyond this point.
A notable new addition in its feature set is a special mode for clicking sunsets called Telephoto Sunshot. This is enabled automatically between the 10X-30X zoom range and helps with shooting perfectly exposed sunset photos and silhouettes but I found the colours to be exaggerated and not natural.
Vivo X100 Pro Super Macro camera sample (tap image to expand)
Just like on the iQoo 12, Vivo has also included a Super Macro mode which allows for macro photography using its telephoto camera. It lets one focus on objects from as close as 18cm and this leads to some really sharp and detailed photos which can be captured at 4.3X (optical) and even at 8.6X (digital) with good background separation (even before enabling software bokeh).
While Vivo’s X100 Pro excels at dynamic range, Google Pixel 8 Pro offers a much wider field of view (tap image to expand)
Lastly there is the ultra-wide angle camera that does a fine job of shooting photos in daylight but not so much in low light. Despite its 50-megapixel sensor resolution, I did not find the photos all that impressive in terms of resolved detail. I also found the photos to be a bit washed out in comparison to what the Google Pixel 8 Pro is capable of.
Vivo X100 Pro selfie camera samples (tap image to expand)
As for selfies, these are just about passable and aren’t the best I’ve seen on a smartphone in this class. While skin tones are accurate, the camera tends to smudge out details despite disabling all types of beauty enhancements. Edge-detection could have been a bit softer as well as it seems to have some random and roughly cut out edges when applying the software bokeh.
Video captured at 4K at 30fps from the primary camera looks really good in all types of lighting conditions including low light. The enough detail and dynamic range and the bright spots also seem to be under control. Recorded video is also surprisingly stable in low light with limited noise. Footage from the Ultra-wide camera appears better in daylight but is loaded with noise in low light. The camera also packs a Cinematic Portrait mode which does a decent job of recording with 4K footage with an artificial bokeh but the edge detection leaves a lot to be desired when compared to Apple’s iPhone 15 series of devices.
Overall, it was easy to conclude that while Google’s Pixel had the upper hand in terms of photo editing capabilities, it was easily outpaced by the Vivo 100 Pro’s updated camera hardware.
Vivo X100 Pro Review: Verdict
When it comes to cameras, Fujifilm seems to have found its sweet spot with photographers as an enthusiast’s camera. Among smartphones, Vivo too seems to be the best suited to smartphone camera enthusiasts or those who love extracting the most out of their smartphone cameras. It hits the sweet spot when it comes to mobile imaging, delivering a delicate mix of AI imagery while also giving enough emphasis to hardware. It’s not out to defeat the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (Review) in a zoom contest, or the Pixel 8 Pro (Review) with its AI smarts, but it has the potential of becoming a favourite with those who are into street- photography or love clicking portraits (kids, pets, objects) and generally spending more time on the telephoto camera than the primary. At the same time, the Vivo X100 Pro also provides enough flexibility for general camera requirements.
And that’s just the photography bits. The rest of this phone is also equally impressive in terms of capability whether its entertainment, raw performance, software, gaming and even battery life. And this makes it a solid all-rounder in the premium smartphone segment, with an equally impressive price tag to take on 2024’s flagships.
