vivo V29 Pro review

An upgraded triple camera setup

The vivo V29 Pro has a 50MP, OIS-enabled main camera, just like the regular V29 and the V27 Pro. In fact, it is the exact same camera with the IMX766 sensor. An 8MP ultrawide camera accompanies it. Unlike the aforementioned siblings, the V29 Pro drops the 2MP dedicated macro snapper in favor of a brand new 12MP, 2x portrait telephoto snapper.

As already mentioned, the main camera on the V29 Pro is very familiar. It is based on the Sony IMX766 sensor - a 1/1.56" sensor with 1.0 µm individual pixels. It sits behind an f/1.9 lens with OIS. There's nothing particularly fancy about the autofocus system, just PDAF.

The ultrawide camera reports using the Omnivision OV08D10 sensor, which is pretty small in size - 1/4.0", 1.12µm and is paired with f/2.2 aperture. Sadly, there is no autofocus on the ultrawide, so it can't double as a macro shooter and tame over for the missing macro.

Last but not least, on the back, there is the new 12MP portrait telephoto. The V29 Pro is actually the first V-series phone to have a dedicated telephoto. It is based on the Sony IMX663 sensor, which has a 1/2.93" size and 1.22µm individual pixels. It has a 2x zoom lens that can focus on subjects at 0.5m to 2m away (1.6-6.5ft). Also "all-pixel dual-core" autofocus, which helps it in the dark.

One of the signature features of the V29 Pro is the circular LED flash on the back. It is called a Smart Aura Light and measures a hefty 15.6mm in diameter on the V29 Pro. It is now 36% brighter than the previous generation. This flash adjusts its color temperature according to ambient light. Or you could tweak the settings manually yourself.

Typical for the V-series, an impressive selfie camera is on board - a 50MP module with a fairly wide 92-degree lens with autofocus. And not just autofocus, but Eye AF that ensures your face is always in focus. It is based on the Samsung s5kjn1 Tetracell sensor, commonly known as the ISOCELL JN1. It is a 1/2.76" sensor with 0.64µm individual pixels.

The camera app is quite familiar, similar to the one seen on the V and X series. There's a straightforward zoom selector with 0.6x, 1x and 2x steps.

The main modes are arranged in a carousel formation, and you can switch between them by swiping or tapping on one of the visible modes. The More tab lists the rest of the modes, and from there, you can also customize the modes you have available in the viewfinder.

The Pro mode allows you to adjust the focus distance, white balance, shutter speed, ISO and exposure. You can use Pro mode on the primary and ultrawide cameras. There's an 'i' button where you can get helpful information explaining all of the options in case you are just getting into photography. Shooting in RAW is also an option.

Camera UI

Daylight photo quality

The main 50MP camera on the V29 Pro with its IMX766 sensor is tried and tested at this point. It saves stills in 12.5MP resolution by default. These look very impressive, class-leading even. There is plenty of detail and practically no noise. The dynamic range is plenty wide, and the contrast is pretty good.

The photos offer crips and punchy colors - there is an obvious saturation boost, though it's not over the top.

Overall, these are some solid photos, one of the best in this class, with flagship-grade quality.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples

If you are not fond of the saturation boost, you can switch to Natural Color mode, and it will deliver. All photos we took with this mode have the same exceptional quality as the standard one, plus a lot more accurate and true-to-life colors and spot-on white balance.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples Natural Color

You can force the main camera to capture in the full 50MP resolution. These shots do take a couple of seconds to capture and are also rather large in file size. However, you do get noticeably more fine detail in the frame. Also, there is less sharpening and overall processing, which leads to a more natural look. We do believe using 50MP mode is worth it for things like panoramic shots.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples

vivo V29 Pro: 50MP main camera samples

You can check how well the main camera on the V29 Pro does in our vast photo compare database.

vivo V29 Pro against the Samsung Galaxy A54 and the Motorola Edge 40 in our Photo compare tool

The main camera on the V29 Pro captures some excellent portraits.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples

Subject detection is spot on, and so is the background separation. We really enjoy the quality of the artificial background blur as well.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

Non-human subjects work pretty well, too, even though getting the subject detection to properly pick them up is a bit fiddlier.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

Let's move to the 8MP ultrawide. Its shots have high contrast and enough dynamic range. The noise is kept low, while the colors are as punchy as on the main camera.

The ultrawide photos are of average detail, but we are glad the sharpening isn't overboard, as it often happens. The corners are proficiently straightened out. There is a bit of corner softness, but nothing dramatic.

vivo V29 Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera samples

Like on the main camera, if you don't enjoy the slightly more saturated default color science, you can toggle Natural Color mode and get a much more natural rendition, as advertised.

vivo V29 Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera samples Natural Color

As we already mentioned, for better or worse, there is no longer a dedicated macro camera on the back of the V29 Pro. Vivo has swapped it for a telephoto. The ultrawide lacks autofocus, too, and there is no dedicated macro mode in the camera app at all.

Let's move on to the new 12MP telephoto then. It offers 2x optical zoom compared to the main camera. The shots it captures are pretty great. The frame has plenty of detail and a tasteful amount of sharpening. Contrast is good, while dynamic range is decent, but it could be a bit wider.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera samples

Colors look quite saturated by default, just like on the main and ultrawide cameras. All of them are nicely matched. Once again, if that is not your liking, you can enable Natural Color mode.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera samples Natural Colors

vivo advertises its new telephoto camera's portrait capabilities, and indeed these 2x zoom portraits look very competent overall. Detail is great, and so are subject detection and separation. The V29 Pro also does a consistently good job with the artificial bokeh.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera portrait samples

Just like with the main camera, non-human subjects work pretty well with telephoto portraits. You just need to be a bit more patient when focusing.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera portrait samples

The selfie camera supports autofocus and uses a high-res 50MP sensor. And the 12MP selfies it saves are solid! The level of detail and sharpness are good, the noise is pretty much absent, and the dynamic range is great. We think the contrast is spot-on, the colors are quite pleasing, and the overall processing is mature and natural-looking.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera samples

However, we do have to note that selfies from the V27 Pro looked a bit better to our eye.

The vivo V29 Pro has an additional HD toggle in the camera app, which supposedly results in better detail, but we honestly can't see a significant difference. Photos still come out in 12MP resolution either way, so you might as well leave the toggle enabled.

There are three zoom levels available on the selfie camera.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera zoom level samples

Selfie portraits look great. They are about as good as regular selfies in terms of facial features and skin tones. The autofocus is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, typically meaning that your face will be perfectly sharp. The background bokeh effect looks very convincing, too.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera portrait samples

Video capture

The vivo V29 Pro can capture video at up to 4K@60fps on its main and telephoto cameras and 1080p@30fps on its ultrawide. You can either record in the more widely compatible AVC (h.264) format or go for the more modern HEVC (h.265) and save some space.

Let's start with the main camera. Its 4K@30fps h.264 videos get saved with an AVC video stream of around a solid 50 Mbps with stereo AAC audio inside a standard MP4 container. The quality is solid overall, but not the best we've seen. There is plenty of detail, and colors look nice and natural. Noise is non-existent.

However, we do have to note that contrast is cranked way too high for our taste, resulting in a rather harsh and overprocessed look. Dynamic range isn't amazing either, with clipped highlights and some crushed shadows.

Here is how the main camera on the V29 Pro stacks up against the competition in our vast video compare database.

vivo V29 Pro against the Samsung Galaxy A54 and the Motorola Edge 40 in our Video compare tool

We don't particularly like the 4K video captured by the telephoto camera. It is decent enough, with good colors and low noise. However, detail is not what we would expect from a 4K stream at around 50 Mbps.

Overly high contrast remains a notable issue here. The image looks oversharpened and harsh. Dynamic range is also not ideal once again. Also, the telephoto does seem to focus-hunt quite a bit. Though, to be fair, conditions were rather windy while capturing the footage.

The ultrawide camera captures pretty good 1080p video in its own right, but the footage is nothing to phone home about. The detail is good, given the resolution and we kind of like the color rendition, even though it is distinctly different from the other two cameras and notably warmer. Contrast is good this time around and not overly heightened. Dynamic range is about on par with what we can expect from an ultrawide.

There is some corner softness to note, but nothing dramatic.

The selfie camera can capture video at up to 4K. We like the overall quality. Detail is very good. Colors look natural, though not closely matched to those on the main camera. The footage is a bit shaky, though.

The main camera on the V29 Pro has OIS, and there is EIS on top of that. In fact, there are two levels of stabilization available - standard and ultra. Standard stabilization does not lower the video resolution to function, while Ultra stabilization is captured at 1080p@60fps.

We can't say that we are overly impressed with the stabilization on the V29 Pro, primarily because there is plenty of focus hunting caused by walking and other shakes and bumps.

On a more positive note, at least selfie stabilization seems to work a bit better and does not cause too much focus hunting.

Low-light camera quality

The main camera on the V29 Pro captures great low-light photos. There is more than enough resolved detail and outstanding exposure, the noise is kept incredibly low, and the colors are impressive. Contrast is also impressive, and so is the dynamic range on display here. There is plenty of detail in the shadows and light sources are handled very competently.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera low-light samples

The default camera photo mode applies some amount of night mode processing by default. There is also a dedicated night mode beyond that, and it tends to have longer capture times and more HDR stacking. Night mode sharpens the shots quite a bit without going overboard on the sharpening. Surfaces don't look quite as soft.

vivo V29 Pro: 12.5MP main camera night mode samples

The telephoto camera holds up quite well in low light. Detail is plenty, and colors are well-matched to the main camera. Contrast is good, and the dynamic range is pretty wide.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera low-light samples

There is a bit of noise on certain surfaces, but nothing excessive.

The regular photo mode tends to apply lengthier and more frequent night mode processing for the telephoto than the main camera. Consequently, there is often just a small difference between regular and night-mode shots.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP telephoto camera night mode samples

The low-light photos from the ultrawide camera are good - the detail sure isn't excellent, but everything else is great - exposure, dynamic range, color rendition and saturation, even the noise reduction seems proficient for such type of camera. It is worth noting that colors are not well-matched to the main camera and are notably warmer on the ultrawide.

vivo V29 Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera low light samples

Like on the telephoto, the dedicated night mode does not do too much for ultrawide photos. In fact, using the dedicated night mode often results in slightly softer photos. The night mode processing applied in the default photos mode is perfectly sufficient.

vivo V29 Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera night mode samples

The selfie camera produces all-around solid low-light photos. Skin texture and tones come out looking great with plenty of detail. Contrast is also great.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera low light samples

You can enable the dedicated night mode on the selfie camera, too. It mostly brightens up the backgrounds of photos but doesn't really do much about the subject, which is probably a good thing.

vivo V29 Pro: 12MP selfie camera night mode samples

Low-light videos from the main camera are excellent overall. Detail is superb, and so are colors and contrast. The dynamic range is surprisingly wide, too. Light sources are handled very well.

The telephoto camera is a bit noisier in comparison and a bit less detail. Other than that, it also has very good quality overall.

The low-light ultrawide videos are usable, and that's the best we can say about them. They are dark and noisy, but you can see what's on them.