I can’t stop using this phone’s external lens now that they’ve fixed its big oversight

The vivo X200 Ultra made quite a splash earlier this year, despite being restricted to the Chinese market. One of the most prominent features was the optional telephoto extender lens, which attaches to the phone’s 200MP periscope camera.

Now, the vivo X300 Pro is here for global customers, and this phone supports the same external lens kit. The lens will be available in global markets, much like the OPPO Find X9 Pro’s lens attachment. And I’d argue that this is the combo to get if you want long-range zoom. Hear me out.

A more flexible camera experience

Just like the X200 Ultra, the X300 Pro, paired with the 2.35x telephoto extender lens, enables a 200mm (~8.3x) native zoom via the 200MP periscope camera. The telephoto extender is available as part of the X300 Pro Photography Kit, which also includes the requisite phone case and adapter ring, a camera grip, a shoulder strap, and a few other extras.

I didn’t have an issue lugging around the external lens, as I have a small fanny pack/sling bag for my secondary phone and accessories. The lens also fits fine in my pants pocket, but it’ll be a tight fit at best if you’re carrying both the lens and the X300 Pro. In saying so, this combo still beats carrying a dedicated camera for portability.

It’s easy in theory, if a little awkward in practice, to connect the lens to the X300 Pro, as you’ve got a bayonet-style mount akin to a real camera lens. So it takes 10 to 20 seconds to screw on the lens. On the upside, you can keep the adapter ring attached and still use all the rear cameras. By contrast, the Find X9 Pro’s adapter blocks all but the periscope camera, forcing you to remove both the lens and adapter ring when you’re not using the extender. Either way, the X300 Pro is still ridiculously top-heavy with the lens attached.

One of my complaints about using the X200 Ultra’s telephoto extender was that you had to enter a standalone “telephoto extender” mode that was relatively basic when it came to options. This approach has since been emulated by OPPO and the Find X9 Pro’s add-on lens. Fortunately, the X300 Pro camera app now offers a telephoto extender toggle in most of the major modes. That means you can pair the external lens with a variety of shooting options, including Portrait mode (with styles), access to various color profiles, the Landscape and Night suite, Pro mode, street photography mode, and Snapshot mode. I much prefer this approach, as it makes for a far more versatile shooting experience.

Vivo X300 Pro external lens: What about photo quality?

You can capture some great long-range zoom shots with the X300 Pro and its lens attachment. The lens enables 200mm (~8.3x) native shots as well as 400mm (~16.6x) lossless resolution images. I generally found that 200mm and 400mm shots offered plenty of resolvable detail, pleasing colors, and mostly consistent contrast. Pictures also generally delivered a good sense of depth, as opposed to the flat, bokeh-free shots you’d expect at this range.

Image quality becomes more of a gamble beyond 400mm. Snaps at 800mm (~33x) can look good, depending on the subject, but it’s generally hit-or-miss at this focal length. Zoom all the way in to 1,600mm digital zoom (~66x) and I found that humans usually looked like waxworks. However, I was surprised by the 1,600mm image of the lighthouse below, suggesting that landscapes and buildings benefit most from AI zoom enhancements. I also thought the 1,600mm snap of the seagull was pretty great, with a pleasantly shallow depth of field and relatively sharp feathers.

During my time with the X200 Ultra and its external lens, I found that it was usually a challenge to take photos of fast-moving subjects. Thankfully, vivo’s revised approach to the software allowed me to finally use snapshot mode. Image quality does seem to take a hit (with excessive skin smoothing or noise reduction at times), and blur might be unavoidable in some situations, but I was still able to capture some great shots. The 400mm shot of the penguin above was taken in the standard photo mode, and while I still thought it made for a good snap and conveyed a neat sensation of speed, the penguin was blurry nonetheless. However, I was particularly impressed with the 600mm image of the penguin (taken in snapshot mode), given the distance and the fast-moving nature of these birds when in the water.

Shooting in mixed or low light usually yielded photos that were comparable to the lens-free periscope camera. In fact, the comparison below shows that the external lens captured sharper text across the board.

Extreme darkness shows a limitation of using the lens, though, as image quality takes a sharp dip compared to the lens-free picture. A quick look at the metadata reveals that the lens-free shot is actually a crop from the main camera, compared to the native 200mm shot with the lens. That’s not a surprise, as the telephoto extender partially blocks the main sensor. Still, it would be great if vivo could figure out a way to harness the main camera’s superior light intake.

Vivo was the first brand to offer a stage mode with the X100 Ultra last year, and the X300 Pro retains this option. The combination of this mode and the telephoto extender can result in some good-quality shots. In saying so, I noticed extreme noise reduction at long range, which left people’s faces devoid of detail and overly smooth. See the 800mm stage mode snap in the main gallery for proof of this.

I haven’t spent lots of time filming videos with the telephoto converter, but it tentatively looks like we’ve got reduced (but not totally eliminated) judder and shakiness. However, I am glad to see that the external lens now supports features like 4K/120fps video, LOG video, and pro controls.

I said earlier this year that the X200 Ultra’s external lens was the antithesis of the smartphone photography experience due to its cumbersome nature and awkward installation process. I also decried the lack of key software features at the time.

Well, it’s still an awkward experience to use this bulky external lens. Fortunately, the good news is that vivo has learned lessons and reworked the camera app to support a wide range of software features and modes. OPPO’s external lens might have a slightly longer range, but vivo’s software lets you get the most out of it. And this revised approach means I’m generally fine with the bulky lens because it’s so much fun to use and there are so many options to play with.

The vast majority of people won’t need this lens, and people who want truly next-level photos should still opt for a dedicated camera. But if you don’t want to lug around a separate camera, or just miss the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s dedicated 10x camera like me, the X300 Pro and its external lens are certainly worth a look.