vivo V40 Pro review

A total of four 50MP cameras

The vivo V40 Pro features mostly the same camera hardware as its predecessor, with three 50MP cameras on the back and one 50MP unit on the front.

vivo V40 vs. V40 Pro

The only change here is the main camera's sensor - it's now the Sony IMX921. At 1/1.56", it's negligibly smaller compared to the 1/1.49" we had on the previous model, but Vivo promises photography improvements with the new sensor.

The selfie camera is particularly interesting as it offers a wider field of view for better group selfies as well as autofocus, which is a rare find in smartphones in general.

• Wide (main): 50 MP Sony IMX921 f/1.9, 24mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; 2160p@60fps
• Ultra wide angle: 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1, f/2.0, 15mm, 1/2.76", 0.64µm, autofocus; 2160p@60fps
• Telephoto: 50 MP Sony IMX816, f/1.85, 50mm, 1/2.51", 0.64µm, PDAF; 2160p@60fps.
• Front camera: 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1, f/2.0, 20mm, 1/2.76", 0.64µm, autofocus; 2160p@60fps

There's also the "Aura Light" on the back, which is a larger ring light sitting below the main camera island. It is allegedly 19 times larger and 50 times softer than a standard flash. Its primary purpose is properly lighting and exposing the subject's skin tones and skin texture when taking their portrait photo.

The camera lenses are branded by Zeiss. The camera app also offers numerous Zeiss portrait presets, which adjust the background blur style and apply different rendering styles.

The camera app also offers global settings for color reproduction, contrast, etc. There are three preset styles - Vivid, Textured and Zeiss Natural. For this review, we used only the Vivid preset, which is the default one anyway.

Daylight photos

Main camera

The photos produced by the Vivo V40 Pro are generally pretty good. The main camera delivers consistent, high-quality results with excellent detail and contrast. While the dynamic range is fairly wide, it could benefit from some improvement. Occasionally, you might spot sharpening artifacts on surfaces like grass or foliage, though it's not overly noticeable.

Main camera samples

As with its predecessor, the V40 Pro offers three distinct color modes for photography. In the default vivid mode, there's a noticeable boost in saturation, particularly in areas like the sky and greenery. However, the colors don't come across as unnaturally oversaturated. They still maintain a realistic quality.

Switching to the ZEISS natural color mode provides even more subtle, natural tones. The difference in color processing is subtle and will depend on the specific scene, but the option for more natural results is present.

Portraits: Normal • Portrait mode

It's possible to set all of the V40 Pro's cameras to capture images at their native 50MP resolution. That said, we wouldn't recommend this, as the added detail is minimal, and using the 50MP mode often leads to exposure issues, with images frequently coming out overexposed. Additionally, the file sizes in this mode are significantly larger, making it less practical for everyday use.

50MP main camera samples

2x zoom camera

The 2x telephoto lens delivers strong results overall. The level of detail is impressive, with no noticeable signs of oversharpening. The color consistency between the telephoto and the main camera is excellent, regardless of the color mode you're using. Still, we can't say we haven't seen similar quality from standard 2x crop zooms from main cameras on rivaling solutions.

2x zoom camera samples

As usual, the V40 Pro puts a lot of emphasis on portrait photography, so the camera app provides plenty of focal lengths as well as faux bokeh styles and color presets, some of which are Zeiss-approved. Here are some samples in 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 100mm focal lengths as well as non-Portrait mode stills in 2x and 4x.

Portraits in Photo mode: 2x • 4x

Portrait mode: 35mm • 50mm • 85mm • 100mm

4x crop zoom

The camera app offers a 4x toggle, a standard crop from the 2x zoom unit. The photos are understandably softer, lack fine detail on distant subjects, and highlights may appear a bit "glowy". However, the overall quality is close to that of the 2x zoom samples and we can definitely say they are usable under the right lighting conditions.

4x crop zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

On paper, the ultrawide camera of the Vivo V40 Pro seems very promising with its impressive 50MP resolution. However, in practice, the results are somewhat underwhelming. Photos often come out soft and lacking in fine detail. Even when things go right, images tend to display noticeable oversharpening, which detracts from the overall quality. Despite its high specs, the ultrawide camera doesn't quite live up to expectations.

Ultrawide camera samples

Since it can autofocus, the ultrawide can also do close-up macro-style shots. The results are pretty good for what we've seen from other ultrawide macro implementations.

Macro samples

Selfies

Vivo continues to focus heavily on the selfie experience with its V-series, and the Vivo V40 Pro is no exception. The 50MP front camera captures highly detailed selfies, with skin textures rendered very naturally. While the colors are slightly less vibrant compared to the rear cameras, they remain quite true to life, giving you an accurate and realistic look in your shots. Overall, the selfie camera performs impressively, with sharpness and lifelike quality.

Selfies

Low-light photos

Main camera

Even if you don't use the dedicated Night mode, the software is quite competent on its own and will apply the appropriate Night mode processing to your stills. It also captures the Night mode photos quickly enough without much waiting time.

Main camera samples

The results are excellent, to say the least. The colors aren't overly saturated and are very close to natural. The images are remarkably clean, with plenty of detail and well-balanced shadows and highlights. Light sources are handled well, with minimal flare or overexposure. Overall, we have very few complaints about its low-light capabilities.

2x zoom camera

The 2x zoom camera remains rather consistent in the low-light scenarios. We are happy with the overall rendition as samples are adequately sharp, detailed, without much noise, if at all, and with nice colors. Of course, sharpness and detail aren't on the same level as the main camera, but realistically, we can't ask for more.

2x zoom camera samples

4x crop zoom

To be fair, the 4x zoom samples at night are okay. If you plan on using them for casual social media posting or just look at them on your phone's screen, they are perfectly fine. But upon closer inspection, it's evident that vivo is pushing the boundaries of this sensor. Zooming in reveals lack of fine detail and the soft nature of the pictures.

4x crop zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera fails to impress at night as well. The samples are overprocessed with obvious oversharpening, which doesn't fix the soft nature of the photos. Dynamic range is also rather limited as shadows are crushed in an attempt to save the highlights.

Ultrawide camera samples

Video recording

The vivo V40 Pro can record 4K videos with all of its cameras, at 60fps at that. This is a step up from the V30 Pro since its telephoto camera was capped at 30fps at the time of review. Of course, the device also applies EIS to all of its videos, but the Ultra stabilization mode is capped at 1080p@60fps.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

Videos recorded with the main camera are impressively sharp and detailed, with minimal noise. While the dynamic range isn't perfect, it's still fairly broad, and contrast is well-balanced. The colors appear natural, though they can sometimes seem a little muted. A dedicated color processing option for videos might be a useful addition.

The telephoto camera handles 4K video capture well. The footage has a bit more sharpening, and the contrast is slightly boosted.

The ultrawide camera performs solidly in video mode too. There's good detail, and the colors stay consistent with the main camera, although they may come across as slightly flat. Noise is virtually non-existent, but the dynamic range could still use some improvement.

Low-light video performance from the main camera is generally nice. The footage retains good detail, with well-defined shadows and highlights managed fairly well, although light sources occasionally appear overexposed. Noise is minimal, making for a clean image overall.