Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) review

Premium dual-camera setup

The Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) features similar three cameras to the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion - a 50MP OIS primary and a 13MP AF ultrawide/macro at the back and a 32MP selfie cam at the front.

The primary camera on the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) relies on the Samsung ISOCELL (S5K)GN9 sensor - a 1/1.57" imager with 1.0µm pixels and a stabilized 24mm f/1.8 lens. The sensor has a Tetrapixel color filter and saves 12.5MP photos.

Then comes the 13MP Hynix Hi1336 or the 13MP GalaxyCore GC13A2 sensor depending on the unit coupled with a 16mm f/2.2 lens. Autofocus is supported and so is macro photography.

Finally, the front camera utilizes a 32MP Samsung ISOCELL (S5K)JD1 sensor - a 1/3.14" imager with 0.7µm pixels and a 25mm f/2.4 lens. The focus is fixed.

• Wide (main): 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN9 f/1.8, 1/1.57", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps
• Ultra wide angle: 13 MP SK Hynix HI1336, f/2.2, 1/3", 1.12µm, AF; 2160p@30fps
• Front camera: 32 MP Samsung ISOCELL S5KJD1, f/2.4, 1/3.14", 0.7µm; 2160p@30fps

The camera app on the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) is developed in-house, in contrast to the otherwise stock-looking approach to software.

The basics are as usual - the camera modes are arranged in a customizable carousel formation, with the 'More' tab at the rightmost end of the carousel holding the more seldom-used shooting modes.

Pro mode gives you full control over the camera's settings like white balance, ISO, focus, shutter speed, and exposure compensation, and it works on all cameras - both rear ones and the selfie camera (minus the manual focusing). A tiny live histogram is provided, but there's no focus peaking or zebras.

You get some settings in each camera mode right on the main UI, with the others hidden away in the settings menu. However, there isn't a straightforward separation of what you're going to find where. For example, the full-res mode for selfies is found in the settings menu, while full-res capture for the rear cameras is accessed from the 'Ultra-Res' mode on the carousel. A lot of the app's peculiarities are long-standing Moto things, so you may be right at home if you're a recurring user, but that doesn't necessarily make them intuitive.

There's also a setting in the viewfinder that lets you capture shots and directly apply the Google Photos 'Enhance' processing. If you find yourself often doing that to your photos after the fact in the gallery, this could save you one step. However, there's no apparent way to get the pre-enhanced photo once you've saved the auto enhanced version. We'd rather shoot 'Natural' and enhance as needed.

Natural • Enhanced • Natural • Enhanced

Before moving on, we would like to point out that we found the camera app extremely laggy and unresponsive in our Moto G Stylus 5G review unit, just like it was on the Edge 50 Fusion. Especially when using/switching to the ultrawide camera.

Daylight photo quality

The default photos from the main camera are very good. The resolved detail is plenty, there is no noise and the colors are lively and punchy, but in a likable way. The contrast is high across all photos, and the dynamic range is wide but not over the top.

Main camera

The portrait mode does a solid job - the subject separation is satisfactory and the person is detailed and well-exposed, while the background blur is colorful and believable.

Portraits

The 2x zoom mode saves acceptable images. There seems to be more processing involved than a simple crop and upscale, but not much. The photos are soft, but not too soft, while the rest is a match to the regular 1x zoom - noise reduction, colors, contrast, dynamic range.

Main camera, 2x zoom

The ultrawide-angle camera captures some nice 13MP shots. They offer accurate colors, wide dynamic range, high contrast and low noise if any. The detail slightly above average, which is enough for this type of cameras and lens.

Ultrawide camera

The UW camera supports autofocus and hence it can snap images from as close as 4cm away from the subject. And the closeups we shot were pretty easy to capture from the first tray and turned out detailed and sharp, colorful, with wide dynamic range and good contrast. And thanks to the high 13MP resolution, you can crop or edit some great shots for the social networks.

There is a dedicated macro mode on the viewfinder, but it crops and upscales the center of the UW photo, so we did not use it as it noticeable reduces the image quality.

Ultrawide camera, closeups

The 32MP selfie camera uses a Quad-Bayer color filter, but Moto's camera app allows you to choose whether to save in the default 8MP or the upscaled 32MP mode. And this option is something that every Xiaomi, OnePlus, vivo, etc. smartphone must have!

Anyway, the 8MP selfies are wonderful - they offer incredibly high resolved detail, well-developed face and natural skin tones, excellent dynamic range and accurate colors. There is no obvious noise in any of the photos.

Selfies

Low-light photo quality

The nighttime photos from the main camera are superb - the resolved detail is plenty (even if a bit over-processed), the noise reduction is proficient and doesn't diminish the quality, and the exposure is balanced and everything looks natural. The colors are excellent, too.

Main camera, Auto

The Night Mode slightly reduces the amount of detail in areas of high complexity (like grass and trees), but brightens the skies a bit and cleans them of noise.

Main camera, Night Mode

The 2x zoomed photos are a simple crop and upscale. In addition to being soft, they are also noisy and we can observe various artefacts.

Main camera, 2x zoom

The ultrawide camera saves usable photos at night - the detail is average, there is a lot of visible noise, but the colors, contrasts and dynamic range are solid.

Ultrawide camera

The Night Mode clears the noise and brightens the sky in a likable way, so we suggest using it on this camera.

Ultrawide camera, Night Mode

Video recording

The Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G (2024) supports 4K video capturing at 30fps with all three cameras. 1080p@60fps is available only on the main camera.

There is optional electronic stabilization that works on all cameras, resolutions and frame rates. It does an excellent job and we do recommend leaving it always on.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

The main camera captures average videos - the dynamic range is wide; the contrast is good and the colors are accurate. But the resolved detail is mediocre and they are riddled with noise. The same applies to the low-light videos from this camera.

The 2x zoom saves poor upscaled videos.

The ultrawide camera offers very good videos with a lot of detail, acceptable noise levels, wide dynamic range and good colors even if a bit cool. The low-light videos from the UW camera are passable, noisy but with enough detail and good colors.

Finally, the selfie camera captured good videos with excellent dynamic range, high contrast, accurate colors and somewhat average detail. The footage is clean of noise.