That is the perfect smartphone digital camera accent I’ve ever used

We have largely moved previous the time when flagship telephones may very well be differentiated solely by efficiency. Sure, some customers may face performance issues on the Pixel 10 Pro, however general, we have moved past eventualities the place flagship smartphones stand aside simply primarily based on velocity, with most now providing easy day-to-day use.

Nonetheless, one key space the place smartphones nonetheless compete, and the place most corporations proceed to focus, is improving camera performance with each era. Be it Apple, Google, or Samsung, each model continues to work on and add new options to their smartphone cameras annually.

In the meantime, producers like Oppo and Vivo have taken a barely totally different route. Along with enhancing their built-in cameras, the corporate now gives exterior digital camera equipment that connect to the smartphone’s digital camera module to reinforce performance even additional. Vivo launched this with the earlier X200 collection and continues with the brand new X300 lineup.

With the latest launch of the Oppo Discover X9 Professional, Oppo has joined this area by providing a particular attachable exterior accent developed in collaboration with Hasselblad. I have been utilizing the Discover X9 Professional and the Hasselblad Teleconverter accent for about two weeks now, and I am satisfied this tiny add-on beats any smartphone {hardware} improve I’ve tried in a very long time.

The Hasselblad Teleconverter lets me zoom in like by no means earlier than

It’s kind of of a trouble to connect, however the outcomes converse for themselves

Smartphone makers have been attempting to enhance zoom capabilities on their units for the previous few years. Apple moved from a 3x telephoto zoom lens within the iPhone 15 Professional to 5x within the iPhone 16 Pro and now as much as 8x zoom on the iPhone 17 Pro. Google, alternatively, has been providing as much as 100x AI-powered zoom on the Pixel 10 Professional.

There’s, nevertheless, a bodily restrict to how a lot {hardware} a smartphone maker can match right into a digital camera module. That is why some Android OEMs have began providing exterior lenses that connect to the smartphone to create a DSLR-like setup, and that is precisely what the Hasselblad Teleconverter is for the Oppo Discover X9 Professional.

Attaching it is not straightforward. You first must snap on the aramid fiber magnetic case on the Discover X9 Professional, then slide within the metallic attachment plate over the digital camera module. The draw back of this, nevertheless, is that this metallic plate blocks all the opposite lenses of the cellphone, so you possibly can solely shoot with the prolonged lens when it’s hooked up.

Lastly, you snap the teleconverter lens on prime of the plate to lock every thing in. The teleconverter itself is pretty heavy, making the setup really feel weighted towards the prolonged lens, although it feels premium and durable as soon as hooked up.

As soon as the setup is prepared, you possibly can seize images utilizing the Digital camera app. Nonetheless, one minor inconvenience is that it is advisable to swap to the particular Hasselblad Teleconverter mode to make use of it correctly. In any other case, the pictures come out inverted if you happen to use the usual zoom mode — one thing I discovered the exhausting approach.

All of this trouble, nevertheless, pays off when you truly begin utilizing the setup. Mixed with the cellphone’s telephoto zoom lens, the Hasselblad Teleconverter supplies an optical zoom of as much as 230mm — one thing a standalone smartphone digital camera module merely can’t obtain.

In easy phrases, this attachment allows as much as 10x optical zoom, 200x digital zoom, and even 50x zoom throughout movies. I took just a few samples with the complete setup to see the way it performs, and the pictures actually converse for themselves.

The second you begin utilizing it and see distant topics seem crystal clear in your cellphone’s display, you are immediately amazed. I took just a few pictures from my terrace of a chicken sitting on a fence above me, and the extent of element was spectacular.

40x with Hasselblad Teleconverter Equipment vs 1x (Fundamental Digital camera)

40x with Hasselblad Teleconverter Equipment vs 1x (Fundamental Digital camera)

20x with Hasselblad Teleconverter Equipment vs 1x (Fundamental Digital camera)

Zooming in to 10x and 20x delivers spectacular outcomes, with photographs showing clear and true to life, although the processing feels a tad overdone for my part. Nonetheless, pictures taken at 40x look noticeably overprocessed, with the digital camera making use of an excessive amount of smoothing.

That mentioned, the pictures popping out of this setup are wonderful. It is exhausting to consider they had been captured utilizing simply the cellphone’s digital camera and an exterior lens. Check out a few of the pictures I took with the Hasselblad Teleconverter package right here (and above):

10x with Hasselblad Teleconverter Equipment vs 1x (Fundamental Digital camera)

10x with Hasselblad Teleconverter Equipment vs 1x (Fundamental Digital camera)

The Hasselblad Teleconverter is the perfect digital camera add-on I’ve utilized in years

The accent is undeniably costly, although

On the entire, the concept of utilizing a removable lens on your cellphone is not new. Manufacturers like Xiaomi, Vivo, and even Realme have been doing it for a few years. Equally, corporations like Second have supplied exterior lenses for iPhones for years, however Oppo’s implementation feels distinctive.

Due to its partnership with Hasselblad for each the lens and digital camera processing, the pictures produced by this setup have genuinely amazed me.

After all, all of this comes at a value. Oppo will promote the Hasselblad package as an additional accent for the Discover X9 Professional, priced at €549 in Spain, with availability increasing to different areas quickly.

It is actually a steep value for such a small digital camera accent, however if you happen to’re captivated with cell images, this may be the improve you’ve got been ready for.