Vivo unveiled the X300 series yesterday, and we were there to cover the whole event.
Apart from the quality hands-on time with the X300 Pro and X300, we were also able to capture plenty of photos with both phones. What we didn’t have time for, however, was to snap some long-range shots using the vivo X300 Photographer Kit and the 2.35x telephoto extender lens. Today, we finally have those, too, and you will find them further down, but first, here’s a closer look at the actual gear.
Hands-on
The vivo X300 Pro’s Photographer Kit looks similar to the one we used with the vivo X200 Ultra. While the detachable lens is by all accounts identical, the case isn’t. This one has been made with a slightly improved design of the case itself and tighter tolerances around the area you attach the extra lens, which gives it a bit more stability.
The Photographer Kit has been made by PGYTECH, and it’s a seven-piece box. They allegedly have a kit for the regular vivo X300, but we haven’t seen it ourselves, and the Telephoto extender option seems to be missing from the X300 camera app.
On the one hand, the vivo X300 Pro has a removable 62mm filter adapter ring, a grip with its own battery and Bluetooth to connect to the phone, the 2.35x vivo Zeiss telephoto extender, and a sturdy, long neck strap.
Unboxing the X300 Pro Photographer Kit
The grip slides onto the case and connects to the phone via the USB-C port, which can be used for charging the phone through the grip’s own port or for charging the grip itself (it has a 2300mAh battery inside). There is also a wireless connection between the phone and the grip via Bluetooth, which is used for the camera operation.
Controls-wise, you get a two-stage shutter button, a zoom lever around it, a control dial, and a video record button.
Once you enable the telephoto extender in the camera settings, you get a few extra options that you can control. Pressing the shutter can take a single shot or a burst series, for example. You can have the shutter’s half-press action lock the focus and exposure, or it can run in continuous AF-C focus mode.
The zoom level around the shutter moves smoothly between the entire focal range instead of merely jumping between the vivo X300 Pro’s optical focal lengths.
The grip
To screw on the extra lens, you need to attach the special adapter ring first. You can keep the adapter all the time there as it doesn’t interfere with the regular operation of any of the cameras.
Once you have the telephoto extender screwed on, you have to activate it from a shortcut in the camera viewfinder, which is different from the X200 Ultra, where you had to enter a separate camera mode. Still, the principle of operation is largely the same – you activate the use of the extender when needed and deactivate it accordingly when it’s not on the camera.
The 2.35x teleconverter takes the vivo X300 Pro’s 85mm camera to 200mm optically. You also get 400mm, 800mm, and 1,600mm toggles in the viewfinder, but they are digital. The samples you see below are all taken at the native 200mm.
Camera samples
Teleconverter photos (200mm)
Teleconverter photos (200mm) low-light
And here’s a video we shot with the extender attached, entirely handheld.
Pricing
Individually, the lens is CNY 999 (€120, INR 12,400), the case and the grip are CNY 699 (€85, INR 8,700), but you can bundle them together for CNY 1,499 (€182, INR 18,700), saving CNY 200. Vivo will also sell you the Photographer Kit with the vivo X300 Pro for CNY 8,299 (€1,000, INR 103,600). We don’t have any pricing information for outside China, as the phones have not been launched outside their home market yet, although there is some indication that this will happen soon.
It’s worth noting that for the X300 Pro, PGYTECH has come up with an alternative, lighter color variant as well, along with the standard black and grey ones. For this one, you can also have the lens in a matching silver color.
