Shot on vivo X300 Pro, Captured in the Wild; Auditya Venkatesh Pens his Travelogue Through the New Lens

In the last two decades, I’ve been on over 40 safaris, chasing moments, movements and the magic of the wild but never did I ever encounter a tiger with my own eyes. Late last month, this dream finally came to life – my first-ever tiger sighting with the vivo X300 Pro and the Teleconverter lens clutched in my hand, in the wilds of Casela Nature Parks in Mauritius. From the get-go, the device blended into my rhythm – fast, intuitive, snappy and a go getter. It didn’t come in the way; it was simply point, focus, and shoot. Something that comes in handy when you are up front and personal with an apex predator. 

When I first picked up the X300 Pro, the surprise wasn’t about its specs. It was about how naturally it fits into my shooting style. The device already knew what to do, the second you pointed it at a scene.

With the ZEISS APO Telephoto camera, movement came to life in the way the tiger pranced around. The zoom flawlessly captured each detail between its stripes. All of it, shot on a smartphone. This moment was an honest reminder of how far smartphone photography has come and how you don’t need to depend on gears to get that perfect shot. This was a moment I will cherish forever. 

I’ll be honest, when I first heard about the Teleconverter lens, I wasn’t sold when I heard “birding, wildlife, species recognition.” On paper, it all sounded ambitious for a smartphone but once you’re out in the wild, surrounded by actual movement and unpredictable light, the relevance becomes clearer. The precision, the way framing tightened up, the way details held when the scene demanded it. It’s almost as if the lens understands why it matters to document this moment.

A New Way of Seeing

During our drives out of the Nature Park, we stopped by a small pond—flat light, clear water, fishes cutting across it. More out of habit than intention, I put the x300 Pro to test, to try taking a quick shot of what was unfolding in front of me. The output was sharper and crisper than I thought a phone could pull off in that setting. The way it handled the light and the texture under the surface made me think, “Alright, the lens can handle straightforward, fast paced movements without fuss.”

Similarly, if you’ve ever been on a safari, you know the familiar frustration, your guide whispers, “There, on the branch,” “There, a bird!” and by the time you follow his finger, it’s already gone. Forty safaris later, this embarrassing dance has been my default. Birds vanish. Guides give up on me. I shrug and pretend I saw something.

This time, though, something shifted.

With the 200MP ZEISS APO Telephoto Camera paired with the vivo ZEISS 2.35x Telephoto Extender, I wasn’t squinting into the distance trying to guess shapes. I was seeing. Crisp feathers. Subtle color shifts. Patterns I would’ve mistaken for leaves. This experience truly felt like someone gave me a new sense of experience. I could track what I heard. Follow what I couldn’t spot before. And when the forest opened, birds, deers, even the simple drama of branches swaying, it all came through with clarity that you often don’t get on a phone. Casela Nature Park gave us access to wildlife in a way that felt immediate and respectful.

Performance that Takes Photo-Taking a Notch Higher 

The biggest shift I noticed with the X300 Pro was how far I can push the camera without compromising the images. A large part of that comes from the way it’s AI features shapes the processing behind the scenes. 

The AI isn’t flashy or intrusive; it gets the basics correctly, subject detection stays steady, and the details hold up without adding anything unnecessary. Every enhancement truly blends with the output. Tracking doesn’t pull you off the moment, and the details hold without feeling processed. The phone runs clean through long hours, which matters more than people admit. And when a phone holds that line, it becomes something you can rely on for the days when instinct and opportunity line up.

Standouts that Make X300 Pro a Class Apart 

I’m often asked if phone cameras can replace professional-grade cameras and while I can’t definitely say if they will, as a creator, I rely on both. On days when stealth is the name of the game, my X300 Pro saves the day. 

If fast-moving, high-intensity photography is your calling, then the X300 Pro is what you need to get your hands on. Imagine it this way, all the hassle you’ll go through to rent high-tech gear for your next rendezvous with the wild can be swapped with this one device and the extender kit. It won’t sit in a box somewhere waiting to be explored. 

What stayed with me after using the X300 Pro was how the basics held up without demanding attention, the extender kit gives you reach that genuinely affects how you frame, the main sensor handles low light without falling apart, the manual controls let you set up a shot the way you want, OriginOS 6 keeps the workflow clean, and the front camera finally feels usable in a professional sense. 

Nothing loud, nothing exaggerated, just a device that does its job when you raise it to shoot. And that’s why the image of the tiger still sticks with me. A month ago, I’d have said getting that kind of image on a phone wasn’t likely, yet it played out in front of me in real time. Somewhere between those moments, I understood what vivo India’s innovation actually enables, not shortcuts, not replacements, just the kind of access that widens what you can bring back. If I had to put this experience into one line: it was absolutely incredible.

About the Author: Auditya Venkatesh