Technologies

I Used the Oppo Find X9 Pro’s Bizarre-Looking Hasselblad Lens and Here’s Everything It Can Do

The Hasselblad teleconverter lens adds a 10x optical zoom to the Oppo Find X9 Pro’s 200-megapixel camera. It’s expensive but the results are fantastic.

The Oppo Find X9 Pro has a range of upgrades, including a new 200-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, which boasts several nifty zoom features to help you take a great photo no matter how far away you are from your subject.

For example, it delivers excellent shots at 6x by cropping into the sensor for 50-megapixel photos. Oppo says that it can deliver “lossless zoom” up to 13.2x using computational photography — that’s close to the max digital zoom on phones from a few years ago. And if that’s not enough for you, the Find X9 Pro also supports an external Hasselblad telephoto lens accessory, which further zooms into distant subjects.

Out of these three, the detachable telephoto lens is the most wild. When attached, the Hasselblad lens sticks out several inches from the back of the phone. It somewhat resembles a mini-telescope.

Oppo isn’t the first to make such an accessory; both Vivo and Xiaomi have done it before. However, Oppo’s take is different than the rest. While others offer a camera grip with a shutter button, Oppo’s Hasselblad Teleconverter Kit relies on the phone’s Quick Control hardware button or the on-screen shutter button to shoot the photos.

I’ve been using it a lot recently and here’s what it can do. I should note that the Oppo Find X9 Pro isn’t available in the US.

Using the Hasselblad Teleconverter Kit is kind of a hassle

The Hasselblad Teleconverter Kit comes with three pieces: a snap-on camera module attachment, the telephoto lens itself and a brace that can screw into a tripod for stability.

To use it, you also need to have the official Magnetic Photographer Case, which is purpose-built to support the slide-on attachment. You can then add the lens with a twist, which clicks securely into place over the 200-megapixel telephoto camera.

The external lens accessory is heavy, making the phone unbalanced and unwieldy. I got used to it, but it took a day to figure out how to hold the phone and lens combo most effectively. However, I sorely miss that there’s no camera grip to provide a secure hold for the phone when the lens is mounted. If I move my hand for a more comfortable hold or to tap the screen for long zoom shots, my framing is significantly altered. If I were to change one thing about this teleconverter kit, I’d add a camera grip to make this setup more comfortable to use.

You can use a tripod to brace the lens, which helps stabilize your shots in the viewfinder; however, this is counterproductive to the idea of using a phone to take photos in the first place. I don’t want to carry a tripod — at that point, I might as well just use a dedicated camera and telephoto lens. After all, the whole purpose of having a portable tele lens is to minimize bulk.

And yet, I love using it

The first time you add the Hasselblad lens and open the Camera app, you might be surprised to see the viewfinder upside down. To counter this, you need to go to the dedicated Hasselblad Teleconverter mode under the More menu.

Besides flipping the viewfinder the correct way, it gives you 10x, 20x and 40x zoom options. You can always use the slider to adjust the magnification between 10x and 200x. I used it for a day in Barcelona and loved the natural depth it added to human subjects. I was also surprised by some lowlight results.

Here are few of my favorite photos that I shot on the Oppo Find X9 Pro using the Hasselblad Teleconverter Kit:

I saw a person skateboarding after setting up my camera and kept tapping the shutter button in hopes of getting an action shot. I love how this came out because there’s no motion blur on the person or his skateboard. These kinds of shots require a fast shutter speed to freeze the moment, and the Oppo Find X9 Pro was able to do so at 10x zoom using an external lens. The colors are accurate, the contrast is nice and there’s a good bokeh despite having a moving subject.

When setting up this shot, I tapped on the yacht to move the focus point from the person sitting on the seaside. At 20x zoom, it captured a nice-looking shot but if you look closely, the details are missing from the faces of the people on the yacht. It’s because the camera moved slightly when I was adjusting the focus and trying to capture the photo. Overall, I still prefer the Hasselblad lens and Oppo combination for accurately capturing the colors of a sunset.

At 40x zoom, the Hasselblad teleconverter lens captures softer images and the details go for a toss. But its processing still retains the mood and feel of the frame which is just as important as getting sharp details. It gets the colors right and there’s a decent bokeh. It can also track faces to determine the subject, even at 50x zoom and, like in the above shot, you get decent clarity.

If you have a still subject, the external Hasselblad lens adds a DSLR-like shallow depth of field. It was even able to capture the woman’s hair strands in a windy environment. I love this photo because no portrait mode was used and that bokeh is the lens’ natural bokeh just like you’d get from a DSLR or mirrorless camera. It offers a similar shallow depth of field at 20x for still subjects.

For this photo, I tapped the wall for focus, which also adjusted the exposure and white balance automatically. Too many similar shots from other phones suffer from overprocessing, but not this one. I’m impressed by how it was able to expose for the light, without blowing out the highlights to white. The people were properly exposed without me needing to tap on either for focus and exposure. It also got the mood right in the process.

However, using the lens in low-light settings, like above, adds a lot of noise reduction and tends to give photos a soft, blurry watercolor look. The above shot was also captured at 10x and there’s light over the subject’s face, but the overall look is soft with fewer details. That said, it gives the photo a unique look, which I don’t dislike.

This is also a tap-lock-on-the-subject-and-shoot image, where I [the subject] was moving and the system was able to track my face to focus better. I love the photo’s contrasty look. In anything less than direct sunlight, the Hasselblad lens softens the subject, but the photos still come out looking great.

I like having the ability to expand my phone’s zooming capabilities for both photos and videos. However, the Hasselblad Lens Converter kit remains more of a novelty than something you’d use every day, mostly thanks to its price. While it’s fascinating how close you can get to distant subjects without losing much image quality, at 499 euros (roughly $575), it’s one of the most expensive phone accessories you can buy.

At that price, I’d expect it to function better with my phone. For instance, I’d like the camera software to be able to detect that I’ve attached an external lens, so it would open in the Hasselblad Teleconverter mode by default — rather than giving me a black viewfinder.

The Hasselblad Teleconverter kit is one of the most expensive phone accessories on the market. But if you can afford it, the lens adds a lovely natural bokeh to photos while retaining a scene’s natural colors. It also outputs excellent night shots. It might not be the best value but I can’t seem to put it down.

Technologies

Trump Maintains US‑Iran Negotiations Continue Amid Tehran’s Denials of Duplicity

President Trump insists that US‑Iran talks are ongoing despite Tehran’s denial of any negotiation plans, while warning that only a deal or total surrender will allow passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Conflicting statements from both sides have heightened uncertainty as the conflict enters its sixth month.

On Monday, President Donald Trump asserted that negotiations between the United States and Iran are still taking place, even after Tehran stated it has no intention of engaging in direct talks with Washington.

In a fiery Truth Social post, Trump labeled Iran’s leaders “unbelievably duplicitous,” claiming they are lying about ongoing peace talks “whether Iran wants to admit it or not.” He repeated his assertion that the United States completely controls the Strait of Hormuz, despite maritime traffic through the crucial route lingering at only a small fraction of pre‑conflict levels.

He wrote, “Nothing reaches Iran unless we allow it, and nothing will pass unless a deal—or total surrender—is achieved.”

Earlier that day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters there is no imminent plan for U.S.–Iran negotiations, contradicting Trump’s earlier comment that talks would resume Monday afternoon. Baghaei added that Iran’s only current discussions are with Oman concerning the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflicting statements have heightened uncertainty over the peace‑talk process and the broader conflict, now in its sixth month.

Trump’s assertion about new negotiations came a day after he said on Truth Social that he had agreed to cancel a massive strike against Iran “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” He said in the same post that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to hold off on that attack because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

Trump has claimed dozens of times throughout the more‑than‑five‑month‑long war that a deal is at hand. No permanent deal has been signed, and a temporary ceasefire reached in June has fallen apart.

Trump has also repeatedly threatened to launch devastating strikes against Iran before backing off. After the latest example, oil prices on Monday fell and stocks surged.

BMI, a research unit of Fitch Solutions, said in a note Monday that a broader diplomatic understanding on reopening the Strait of Hormuz is still achievable this quarter, while raising the probability of its escalation scenario to 35% from 25%, citing mounting military, diplomatic and economic signs of rising U.S.-Iran tensions.

“Diplomatic progress is likely to be punctuated by periodic military flare-ups, while miscalculation by either side could trigger a renewed escalation,” BMI analysts wrote in a note. The firm said the key issue to watch is the future governance of the strait, as the Iran-Oman talks — potentially backed by Gulf states, China and the U.S. — point to efforts to build a post-conflict shipping framework.

Shipping risks persist even as diplomacy appears to be advancing. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said it received a report of an incident 20 nautical miles (23 miles) northeast of Khasab, Oman — at the mouth of the strait — with a tanker’s master reporting an explosion in close proximity to the vessel at about 20:37 UTC Sunday (4:37 pm ET). The vessel and crew were safe and authorities are investigating, UKMTO said, advising ships to transit with caution.

The proposal Trump announced over the weekend calls for the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations and continue ironing out some of the thorny issues that had derailed diplomatic efforts, according to The Associated Press, citing a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

The official said the proposal also includes a reopening of the Hormuz Strait and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.

The U.S., for its part, will end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil, the official said, adding that no deal has been reached, although the mediation efforts remained underway.

Trump’s weekend reversal has lowered the temperature after days of escalating attacks across the Gulf. Kuwait said Saturday that Iranian forces launched a wave of drones within its airspace, with its military destroying multiple aircraft after Iran targeted critical infrastructure in the country’s north.

A parallel track with Muscat is also advancing. Iranian diplomats said Tehran was close to reaching a new arrangement with Oman to manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a deal critical to preventing the war from escalating further, according to the Financial Times.

Iranian officials said negotiations over future management of the Hormuz Strait with Oman, which sits on the opposite shore of the waterway, are in their final stages. The agreed shipping route would be different from those used before, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Baghaei, adding that the new route was separate from the issue of the strait’s reopening or continued closure.

Technologies

Oil Prices Slide as Trump Halts Planned Iran Strike

Oil prices dropped after Trump cancelled a planned strike on Iran, with WTI down about 5% and Brent near 5% lower. He said the move followed requests from Tehran and regional allies for a pause while a deal shaping the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program is negotiated.

Oil prices fell on Monday after President Donald Trump announced he had cancelled a planned strike on Iran. WTI futures dropped roughly 5% to $80.34 a barrel, while Brent slipped about 4.7% to $83.77 a barrel.

Trump said early Sunday he called off the strike after Iran and several Middle Eastern nations asked him to hold off, noting that the outlines of a deal had been agreed upon. He added that the prospective accord would entail the immediate, full opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, according to his Truth Social post.

The president had been considering another round of strikes as diplomatic hopes waned since the conflict began on February 28. He said the U.S. and Iran would meet for talks on Monday, but Iran denied any scheduled negotiations with Washington, citing PressTV. Iran’s foreign‑ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei clarified that Tehran was only discussing shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz with Oman. In a follow‑up Truth Social message, Trump insisted that, regardless of Iran’s acknowledgment, the United States is indeed discussing a solution to a long‑standing problem created by Iran.

Technologies

Oil Prices Drop as Trump Cancels Planned Attack on Iran

Oil prices fell sharply after President Trump announced the cancellation of a planned strike on Iran, citing a new deal that would open the Hormuz Strait and end Iran’s nuclear threat.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after President Donald Trump announced that he had called off a planned strike on Iran.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. benchmark, slipped roughly 5% to close at $80.34 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, declined 4.7% to settle at $83.77 a barrel.

Trump made the announcement early Sunday, saying he had canceled the strike following requests from Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries.

In a Truth Social post, he wrote: “We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”

The president indicated that the proposed agreement would include the immediate, complete, and total opening of the Hormuz Strait, as well as an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.

Trump had been weighing additional strikes amid diminishing prospects for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict that began on Feb. 28. He stated that the U.S. and Iran would hold negotiations on Monday.

Tehran denied that talks were planned with Washington, according to state news outlet PressTV.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran was only holding talks with Oman regarding the routes ships can use through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump added that whether “Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused for decades.”