The Vivo V30e is the brand’s latest entry in the V30 series lineup. At a starting price of Rs 27,999, the smartphone competes with a lot of popular mid-range smartphones. One such notable device is the Realme 12 Pro, which starts at Rs 25,999. Today we’ll be doing a camera comparison between the Vivo V30e and Realme 12 Pro to find out which is the better camera phone at its price.
Here are the camera specifications of both smartphones:
| Vivo V30e | Realme 12 Pro |
| 50MP AF + OIS primary camera | 50MP OIS primary camera |
| 8MP ultra-wide camera | 8MP ultra-wide camera |
| – | 32MP periscope camera |
| 50MP AF front camera | 16MP front camera |
Table of Contents
Daylight
The Vivo V30e and Realme 12 Pro both feature a 50MP primary camera with OIS support and an aperture size of f/1.79 and f/1.8, respectively. Given the similarity, the captured images are quite close to each other in terms of appearance. Images taken from both devices have a similar level of dynamic range. The Vivo V30e tends to slightly oversaturate the colours, and the level of detail is slightly lower compared to the Realme 12 Pro. The Realme 12 Pro wins this round.
Winner: Realme 12 Pro
Ultra-wide
Both phones sport similar 8MP ultra-wide-angle cameras with an aperture size of f/2.2. Where the differences lie, however, is that the Vivo V30e has a 120-degree FoV (field of view) compared to the 112-degree FoV on the Realme 12 Pro. The Vivo V30e thus captures a slightly wider perspective in its images.
The Vivo V30e maintains colour consistency between its primary and ultra-wide lenses, which the Realme 12 Pro fails to achieve. The ultra-wide lens on the V30e delivers better dynamic range and more vibrant images than the Realme 12 Pro. In comparison, the Realme 12 Pro captures sharper images, albeit with slightly washed-out colours, which adds a more dramatic effect to the images. The choice comes down to preferences, and I prefer the Realme 12 Pro’s ultra-wide lens.
Winner: Realme 12 Pro
Portrait
When it comes to portrait shots, the Vivo V30e automatically selects the zoom to 2x, and we manually took 1x shots for this comparison in both phones. The Vivo V30e has a bit of trouble when it comes to edge detection, with visible distortion around the edges and noise visible in shadowy areas.
The Realme 12 Pro uses its 32MP telephoto lens to capture portrait shots. The images have slightly saturated colours and a little smoothening effect, but the edge detection is quite excellent, and the overall image is more pleasing to look at. The Realme 12 Pro delivers better portrait shots
Winner: Realme 12 Pro
Night shot
Next up is low-light photography. We tested the cameras on both smartphones with night mode enabled to gauge their low-light performance. The Vivo V30e offers slightly better low-light performance, with better exposure and a comparatively lower bloom around light sources.
The Realme 12 Pro also does a commendable job, but it loses to the V30e when it comes to the level of detail in night shots. The Vivo V30e delivers sharper images, although the contrast is also quite high. Overall, I prefer the night mode images from the Vivo V30e.
Winner: Vivo V30e
Selfie portrait
The Vivo V30e comes with a high-resolution 50MP front camera compared to the 16MP shooter on the Realme 12 Pro. The Vivo V30e selfie portraits have better edge detection and dynamic range compared to the Realme 12 Pro.
The images do have some level of smoothing, which slightly alters the skin texture, as visible in Realme 12 Pro’s image. Overall, if you prefer social media-ready images, the Vivo V30e is the way to go. I prefer my images to be a little more natural, so I prefer the Realme 12 Pro’s result.
Winner: Tied
Verdict
The Realme 12 Pro wins our overall camera comparison, thanks to its superior camera prowess in daylight photography. On the other hand, the Vivo V30e excels in low-light photography, which may appeal to many users.
It’s important to note that the difference between the two phones is not extremely large, and both offer impressive camera capabilities for their respective price points. If top-notch camera performance is your main priority, the Realme 12 Pro is comparatively the better choice.
