Motorola Moto G7 Plus review

16MP main camera with f/1.7 and OIS

We've seen high-resolution cameras on mid-range smartphones before, but this is one of the few handsets in this price category to have OIS. The main shooter is 16MP with f/1.7, 1.22µm pixels and a secondary 5MP unit for depth sensing. We expect the OIS to account for better low-light quality, less grainy photos and generally less shaky too.

And as for the selfie camera, this phone is kitted with a 12MP unit with 1.25µm pixels and it's capable of shooting 2160@30fps videos. Neat, right? But before we begin with the camera samples, here's how the default camera app looks inside.

Camera menu

The camera menu is different from what we are used to seeing on most phones. Motorola has taken a different approach with its own camera app and we can say it's pretty easy to use. There are three icons on the bottom - one is for the default photo mode, the other one opens up the video recording tab and the one on the left opens up the settings and different camera modes, including the portrait mode.

Camera menus and options

There are additional settings buried in the upper right corner sub-menu.

Image quality

Undoubtedly, the 16MP main camera aided by OIS is one of the centerpiece features of this phone, so we were eager to see it in action.

Right off the bat, we can see that there's plenty of detail when there is enough light. The exposure tends to make the scenes a bit darker, especially in the shadows, but colors appear punchy and the contrast is good. Of course, punchy colors also means less accurate color reproduction, but it will appeal to most for social media.

Daylight samples

There's a bit of artificial sharpening here and there, but it's really hard to notice if you aren't looking for it and in our opinion, it's just the right amount to make the photos more pleasant. We did notice, however, some magenta tint in some parts of the image and luckily, it didn't ruin the overall experience. Also, some noise in the sky and the dark parts of the scene can be noticed. The dynamic range needs a little fixing and that's where the HDR kicks in.

The HDR did a great job of restoring the shadows without ruining the highlights. Note that the HDR photos will be a bit softer as well - barely noticeable but still something worth mentioning. Perhaps letting the software decide when the HDR is needed is the best way to go, so leave it on auto.

HDR On

And more samples.

Moto G7 Plus camera samples

Moto G7 Plus camera samples

Moto G7 Plus camera samples

Low-light photos

The Moto G7 Plus night time image quality is pretty consistent. Colors stay punchy, images are sharp although, dynamic range is once again holding it back. While the photos come through nicely exposed, most light sources get clipped though the situation is much better than on the other phones in the Moto G7 family.

When the scene is really dark, the software is confident enough to lower the shutter speed to 1/10s with the help of the OIS.

Overall, the G7 Plus takes great low-light photos with good exposure, low noise, and preserved colors. It's definitely one of the best night shooters we've seen in the price range with the only real competition here being the Redmi Note 7 with its excellent night mode. Too bad the Moto G7 Plus didn't come with a dedicated night mode, which would allow it to restore the highlights as well.

Low-light photos

More low-light camera samples

Once you're done examining the real-life samples you can have a look at our Photo compare tool for some studio shots. We've pre-selected the Redmi Note 7 and the Realme 2 Pro but you can pick any other set of phones to compare once you're there.

Here's how it compares to the competition.

Moto G7 Plus against the Realme 2 Pro and Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 in our Photo compare tool

Portraits

Portrait shots return plenty of detail, nice and natural skin tone while the edge detection appears to be one of the best we've seen on a mid-range phone. Of course, there are a few spots that the software missed, but we can't be too picky. There's a slider in the camera app that lets you choose the strength of the blur effect. You can make it look subtle or over-the-top.

Selfies

The selfies are pretty nice as well. The dynamic range is lacking but the detail is good and the edge detection in the portrait mode was expected to be less precise than the back camera where the depth sensor does most of the heavy lifting.

Selfie: Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait

Video recording

The handset is capable of recording 2160p videos in 30fps or 1080p at 30 or 60fps - nothing out of the ordinary. Slow-motion capture supports 720p@240fps or 1080@120fps and interestingly enough, the front-facing camera can record 4K videos as well. It's limited to 30fps.

There's no visible noise but we can see some slight loss of detail in the highlights when recording 2160p videos. The same goes for the 1080p samples in addition to the worse dynamic range.

The 4K video recording doesn't support EIS but the Full HD one does come with EIS. Here's how the stabilization or the lack there of affects the video recording.

Here's how it compares to the competition in a more controlled environment.

2160p: Moto G7 Plus against the Xiaomi Mi 8 SE and Nokia 7 Plus in our Video compare tool

You can download short untouched samples as well - 2160p/30fps (10s, 64MB), 1080p/30fps (10s, 22MB).