Update | Trouble in Zeiss camera paradise as Vivo X200 Pro users complain about unsightly lens flare problem
The mood has changed quite quickly. Last week we reported on the enthusiastic voices of the first Vivo X200 Pro reviewers, and now this week we have to warn all global buyers who are thinking of importing one of the new Zeiss camera flagships. Anyone who buys an expensive Vivo flagship will do so mainly because of the supposedly good quality lens, which Vivo and Zeiss also advertise a lot. There is talk of Vario-APO-Sonnar lenses and of course the famous T* Zeiss coating, which is supposed to reduce the occurrence of reflections and unsightly apochromatic aberrations.
This has been proven in countless tests, such as the Vivo X100 Pro in comparison with other smartphones. For the first time, however, massive lens flares on the Vivo X200 Pro seem to be casting dark clouds over the Zeiss camera, as countless reports from early users in Chinese networks show. Anyone searching for the term "x200pro炫光" on Weibo and on Chinese YouTube equivalent Bilibili, for example, will quickly come across unsightly photos and videos, as the examples below show. Outside of China, X user @Devinarde in particular has made these potential problems known to a wider audience.
The comparison with Vivo X100 Pro or Vivo X100 Ultra makes it clear
The fact that this problem is quite new for Vivo phones is shown by comparison images with the predecessors of the Vivo X100 series, which suffer significantly less from this problem under the same conditions. In particular, an angle of about 45 degrees to a strong light source at the top seems to cause these strong lens reflections, as early Vivo X200 Pro buyers point out. The question remains as to why the T* coating doesn't help here. According to @Devinarde, the difference compared to its predecessors could be that Vivo has integrated the coating directly into the main camera this time as part of the new LYT-818 sensor/optics design, which was apparently different in the past.
Reviwers still see no issue, no official statement from Vivo
Meanwhile, the anger of early buyers seems to be directed at the initial reviewers who have remained silent about this somewhat massive problem. Some of them, however, cannot understand the problem, such as the two international reviewers Ben Sin and Ben Geskin, who have both stated on X that they have not encountered the problem (see posts below). As far as we know, Vivo has not yet officially commented on the problem or provided a solution. So anyone who orders a Vivo X200 Pro will probably have to live with a stronger likelihood of lens flare compared to its predecessors.
Update 24.10.2024, 07:30: Official statement from Vivo
Vivo has now commented on the problem via Vice President Huang Tao. In a long Weibo post (see machine translation below), the manufacturer explains why the Vivo X200 Pro has a greater tendency to lens flare and cites the larger aperture and the coating of the optics as reasons. The latter is intended to reduce ghosting effects, but apparently increases the blue portion of the reflections, which are more visible than usual. A software update that Vivo is preparing for the future should help here. Either way, Vivo has officially apologized for the problem and is also looking for solutions to reduce the influence of light, which will then be made available to users free of charge (apparently a kind of sun visor).
Source(s)
Weibo search and Bilibili search via @Devinarde (1, 2), @bencsin, Ben Geskin
Image: Weibo
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