Motorola Moto G51 5G review

Standard triple-camera setup with 50MP main unit

The Moto G51 has borrowed the Moto G71's camera setup on the back. Compared to the Moto G50, the G51 swaps out the useless depth sensor for an 8MP ultrawide snapper with f/2.2 aperture, 118-degree FoV. The sensor itself is commonly used from low-end to upper mid-range devices, and it's a tiny one - it's just 1/4.0" in size with 1.12µm pixels. The 2MP macro camera remains.

The main camera is 50MP, f/1.8, 1/2.76" with 0.64µm pixels. And although that's a higher resolution camera than the 48MP unit on the G50, this one here uses a significantly smaller sensor and smaller pixels as well. We are yet to see how that translates into actual photography.

The selfie camera is 13MP with f/2.2 aperture and 1.12µm pixels, while the 16MP variant is reserved to Chinese units only.

Camera menu

The handset uses version 6 of Motorola's Moto Camera app, which is distributed and updated through Google Play. There aren't any major changes to the UI compared to the previous Moto devices we've reviewed. All modes are found in the so-called "hamburger menu," and the mode you used last is saved on the main mode carousel.

Moto Camera app

Additional settings for each Photo or Video mode are accessed by a simple swipe up from the shutter button.

We would once again like to address the resolution issue that has been plaguing Motorola devices for years now. There's a resolution selector that applies to both cameras - the main and ultrawide one. And as you know, these two have very different native resolutions - 12.5MP vs. 8MP. Selecting either of those would force the resolution on both cameras. This means that stills with the ultrawide unit will be upscaled from 8MP to 12.5MP, resulting in sub-optimal quality, which isn't high on the auxiliary cameras to begin with. But more on that later in the Camera quality section.

Moto Camera app

Daylight samples

Main camera

The main camera takes photos with punchy and pleasant colors - definitely not over the top. The stills are generally sharp, dynamic range is okay, and noise is mostly well controlled even when you go indoors. Sure, there's some grain in the shadows, but that's to be expected from a budget phone like the G51.

Daylight 12.5MP samples

The main camera's picture quality is roughly on par with the competition, with a few exceptions worth noting. The software tends to go for slightly higher exposure, sometimes resulting in clipped highlights. There's some fuzziness around some of the building edges. Also, fine detail can sometimes be crushed in the shadows.

Daylight 12.5MP samples

You have the option to use the full 50MP resolution of the main camera instead of binning your stills down to 12.5MP. There's little to gain from that, though, as photos come out noisier, considerably softer, and HDR doesn't work in that mode.

Daylight 50MP samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide unit produces photos that fit our expectations. In this price range, they are often soft, lack dynamic range and detail. So no surprises here. There's also noticeable color fringe and noise all-around. Sadly, due to the upscaling from 8MP to 12.5MP, the images are even slightly softer than those from the competition.

Daylight ultrawide samples

However, Motorola seems to have adjusted the colors just enough to make the images a bit more appealing as colors aren't washed out, and the barrel distortion algorithm does a pretty nice job of straightening out the photos.

Daylight ultrawide samples

Macro samples

There's not much to talk about here. The 2MP sensor on the G51 performs just as expected. Contrast is a bit lacking, and detail is poor due to the low resolution. Getting a sharp image in focus is challenging because the lens has a fixed focus distance. It's especially hard with moving objects like insects or swaying flowers.

Macro samples

Low-light samples

Main camera

The low-light shots without the Night mode look pretty decent. Surely, they are a bit on the soft side and lack fine detail, but that's not really a surprise. We like the rather accurate color reproduction, good contrast and the wide dynamic range, except for the small, clipped highlight areas. The ability to retain detail in the shadows without clipping all the highlights is particularly impressive, and the noise is contained to a certain degree. This leads us to believe that the noise reduction algorithm is working overtime, hence the smooth surfaces of the buildings.

Low-light main camera samples

Going for the Night mode, which doesn't take too much time to stitch the needed frames, would sometimes bring a little bit more color into the frame, improve contrast, and boost sharpness considerably. The clipped highlights are taken care of as well, but we found it to go overboard with the exposure in other shots, which results in clipped light sources. And the sharpness boost introduces quite a bit of fine-grain across the whole scene. We suggest taking a shot using the standard Photo mode and the Night mode and deciding which one looks better because the Night mode will vary from scene to scene.

Night mode samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera struggles in a low-light environment and makes it hard to recommend using it at night. Images are muddy, lack contrast, have washed-out colors and have limited dynamic range. There's no Night mode for the ultrawide either.

Low-light ultrawide samples

Here's how the primary camera on the Moto G51 stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.

Motorola Moto G51 5G vs. Samsung Galaxy A22 5G and the Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro in our Photo compare tool

Portraits

Even with the depth sensor gone, the Moto G51 produces a believable bokeh effect, including stills with challenging background and foreground objects. Dynamic range is excellent as the subject's face is always well exposed while colors are punchy and vibrant. It may render the skin a bit pale at times, though. What we didn't like was the excessive noise, even when the lighting conditions aren't bad, and the fine detail is missing throughout all samples.

Portrait samples

Selfies

The selfies are decent enough with good dynamic range and a good level of detail if the right lighting conditions are met. Maybe colors need a bit spicing up as the subject's skin was often a bit paler than it actually should be. Sharpness and detail deteriorate fast as the light drops, even when there's still enough indoor lighting.

Selfie samples

Portrait selfies are a bit rough around the edges, and since HDR is disabled, the dynamic range is narrower. However, the software always prioritizes the subject's face, so it's always properly exposed.

Portrait selfies

Video recording

Due to the chipset's limitations, the Moto G51 can only do 1080p videos with its main and ultrawide camera. Most of the phones around this price range are limited to just 1080p, except for the Poco X3 Pro, which can do 4K.

Having the 1080p resolution in mind, we still can't say the sample video below is sufficiently sharp. The dynamic range is also poor, with the highlights clipped in the background while the trees cast thick shadows, washing away any detail. Colors are washed out, and there's no detail at all, not just fine detail.

The ultrawide's ability to record videos is comparable, but it adds a little bit of noise into the mix as well.

Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the Moto G51 stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.

1080p: Motorola Moto G51 5G vs. Samsung Galaxy A22 5G and the Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro (2160p) in our Video compare tool