The Vivo iQOO 12 ($600) is an impressively light piece of photography gear. It weighs just 200 grams. Between the 144hz screen and the third-generation Snapdragon 8 inside, this is obviously a gaming phone. Not only that, but the iQOO 12 Legend Edition is clearly winking at gamers with a BMW-inspired design. But who says gaming phones can’t have good cameras? Or, in this case, four of them?

The camera systems of the iQOO 12

The Vivo iQOO 12 comes with not one, not two, but three camera systems. The first is an astrophotography camera (1/1.3-inch sensor with 50MP and an aperture of F/1.63). Its sensor is bigger than the average phone camera sensor, which, in turn, allows for better low-light performance. More surface area per pixel means more light per pixel to gather.

The second is a periscope telephoto camera with an impressive zoom range. (1/2 inch sensor, 64MP, F/2.57). It has a 3X optical zoom range, but using the N.I.C.E  (Neural Image Computational Engine) algorithm, you can zoom digitally up to 100X. Of course, you lose quality when doing so, but far less than you might expect from 100X digital zoom.

The last of the trio is a wide-angle camera (1/2.76 inch sensor, 50MP, F/2.0). It is impressively sharp, but it locks you out of some video modes, such as the high-res 8k and the slow-motion 1080p 240FPS, which we’ll get into later. In return, you can use some special visual modes like digital fish-eye and tilt-shift modes. In particular, the most useful mode when using the wide-angle lens will probably be the panoramic mode.

One thing, that I was not able to test is the astrophotography features of the phone. Vivo claims a super moon feature and a constellation identification feature, but the weather decided to be cloudy all through the review period.

iQOO 12 image quality

All three camera systems work exceptionally well. Sharpness-wise, all three systems offered clear image quality in both the center and the corners of the image. As far as colors go, while I was afraid I’d find over-exaggerated colors (which isn’t rare for smartphone cameras), I was happily mistaken. The colors are well-controlled. They aren’t super saturated, but they aren’t dull, either. They’re just right.

And if you want a different look, you can select one from the camera menu. The iQOO 12 lets you choose among three separate color profiles: Vivid, Textured, and Natural. Vivid increases saturation, Textured mode increases micro contracts, and Natural keeps the image as is. The changes are minor, which makes all three options usable. I liked each of them, as they all feel rather natural, but I did end up using Vivid more than the others. (That’s just a personal preference, though).

You also have the option to use filters on top of the picture profile, including a black-and-white mode. There are a lot of filters, and while I can’t vouch for all of them, I do really like the “Black Currant” filter.

iQOO 12 for portraits

When I tried shooting with the “regular” camera, I got pretty pleasing results across all focal lengths and lenses (I did not try going ultra-wide). There is a good details balance, and I like the color right out of the phone. There is a bit too much micro-contrast for my taste, but this is a balance I guess Vivo had to take. If you want a smoother photo, you can always go portrait mode.

When shooting in portrait mode, you do get rid of the horrible micro-contrast, but you lose a lot of details and get a blurred background. I did not find a good out-of-phone balance for portraits, and I recommend using a post-processing app like Snapseed.

Landscape

On the land space side, the iQoo did a good job. Again, using all three cameras. The micro contrast here helps the image, and I like how the phone handles contrast. Some phones go for eliminating any harsh shadows in the image. They brighten up the darks to maximize visible detail. The iQOO 12 keeps the shadows dark instead, which makes them feel more natural. Personally, I prefer it this way.

iQOO 12 low light performance

Low-light performance is pretty solid, as you’d expect from a Vivo phone in 2023. The camera takes 2-3 seconds to shoot during low-light scenarios. I was concerned about shooting a two-second exposure hand-held, but as the image you get in the end is clean and well-lit, I do not mind this one bit.

Manual mode

Dubbed the “pro” mode on the phone, this mode will grant you control over most exposure settings, from shutter speed and ISO to metering and bracketing. Not to mention, it has the ability to shoot RAW. All the features you would find on a typical mirrorless/DSLR camera. You even have the option to display a histogram or a waveform on the screen to assist in shooting! Most DSLRs don’t even have built-in waveform!

There is one thing you can’t control, even in Pro mode. You can’t change the aperture. This is not Vivo’s fault here. Phone lenses are simply too small to have the complete aperture mechanism you would find on traditional lenses.

(There are some “aperture” controls in Pro mode; however, those are digital bokeh effects; you don’t really change the aperture. The iQOO 12 just adds blur to achieve the fitting depth of field for the selected aperture).

iQOO 12 video quality

The iQOO 12 lets you record up to 8k30p. It also gives you the option to choose between three stabilization modes for video: standard, ultra, and horizon leveling stabilization. Just like in photo mode, you also have access to filters and a digital aperture, but most importantly, the manual mode makes a return here.

The image quality in 8k has improved from the older Vivo phones. But the 8K files remained huge. I wouldn’t recommend shooting in 8k just because you can – it will eat up your phone storage quite quickly. Each 8k30p second is about 10MB. This is double the size you get with 4k60p – 5MB/s.

You can thankfully select H.265 here for smaller files, and if you really want to save space, you also have the option to change the bit rate. You have two options for bit rate: Standard (the default) and High.

Besides shooting 8k, you can still shoot 4k up to 60fps, or if you rather shoot slow motion, you can go up to 1080p 240fps. The 4k footage is amazingly sharp. It’s almost as sharp as the 8k unless you’re really pixel-peeping. In 240fps mode, on the other hand, you will see some degradation in image quality. I’ll recommend only using this extreme slow-motion mode if you never plan on shoeing the footage on a big screen.

Note that the 8k and 1080p 240FPS modes are not available when shooting with the wide-angle camera. The iQOO 12 will automatically switch out when selecting either of these modes.

Macro photography

The Vivo iQOO 12 can focus from ridiculously close ranges. You can nearly press the camera towards the object you are shooting, and it will still manage to focus! When you get close to an object, the iQOO 12 will automatically switch to macro mode. Here is an example of a smiley I drew on a standard checkered notebook. For reference, each square is 0.5cm long, and the phone is about a centimeter away from the paper.

Selfie camera

But wait! We aren’t done yet because the Vivo iQOO 12 actually has four cameras. Three are on the back, and one is on the front. Vivo did not neglect the front camera (16MP, 27mm), and while it’s not as sharp as the rear cameras, it’s still plenty sharp for social media selfies

In conclusion

The vivo iQOO 12 is a great piece of gear, even for the occasional photographer. Sure, it’s not as sharp or capable as a top-of-the-line Nikon Z9, but as a 200g tiny camera that you take with you anywhere anyway? It’s more than welcome to be in my pocket. It has great colors, good sharpness, and enough features to keep me covered. Especially when I see something interesting but I don’t have my main camera on me.

The vivo iQOO 12 is a great piece of gear, even for the occasional photographer. Sure, it’s not as sharp or capable as a top-of-the-line Nikon Z9, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s a phone. It’s tiny and light (especially compared to a Z9). You can’t have the Z9 on you all of the time, but you can easily do so with a phone. And if it’s already there, it might as well be a phone with a decent camera.

The iQOO 12 is available now, starting at $600. It is available with 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB capacities in white, black, and red versions.