iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 Pro Max photos colors are awful

[ToddH]

The photos you have posted, from your 12 Pro Max are stunning. Are the ones that you have posted been post processed through other software or just direct from the phone after they are taken? I am planning on purchasing the iPhone 12 Pro Max from a iPhone 6S+ and really looking forward to the improved camera system in the 12 Pro Max.

Thank you! I do edit them in Lightroom mobile and I did buy some preset for a distinct look. The road and railroad shots were processed with a preset I made by tweaking some of the others I have. Many times I’ll edit shots in the default photo editor, but I really like Lightroom, MOLDIV, Afterlight, & a color story apps. Mextures is a good one also.

I have a friend who has a 6s plus and I have tried many times to upgrade, but he refuses. You’ll love the camera and the much larger sensor for every shot including night mode. Check out this article by Halide.

https://blog.halide.cam/the-iphone-12-pro-max-real-pro-photography-267ad4ac94e2?gi=4f80d58552dc

here is an unedited road shot:

don’t hesitate on the 12 pro max LOL, it’s awesome!!

 

[ToddH]

Its not a phone problem, its an iOS 14 problem and if you dont see color shift issues in your photos, youre blind. Does the video I posted look normal to you? It didnt do that before ios 14. Not on iOS 13, 12, 11, 10 etc..It seems be a bug in iOS 14.

Dude, I have told you twice now to go to an Apple store! I’m not blind, your ignorance is showing...

 

[DexBell]

Telling other people that they are blind for not seeing what you're seeing is not a good way to win people over. You do realize that colors are very subjective. What you don't like others might love. Report the issue to apple, and move on. Stop berating others.

You mean the same way people were calling us blind in the “iPhone 12 pro cannot focus up close thread?” Ok, so neither one are issues then, carry on....

 

[DexBell]

Dude, I have told you twice now to go to an Apple store! I’m not blind, your ignorance is showing...

Dude, I have told you twice now it’s not an iPhone problem, it’s an iOS 14 problem. Apple store can’t do anything.

 

[Next Stop]

Not that spectacular??? Duh! These are snapshots, just random jpegs that I just took. I raised the iPhone and pressed the shutter just like most people do. They are basic samples only for this thread that aren’t edited or planned. You are a poor judge of character and you probably wouldn’t know a good photo if you saw one based on your assumption of simple jpeg photos. I don’t care what you think. Google pixel lost its main camera engineer and the cameras aren’t as good as they once were. The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the most advanced yet. Of course these photos aren’t spectacular, they are random un processed jpegs that apparently you thought are my best work. Geez, don’t you people know the horizon turns more pale of blue the lower you go because of the atmosphere and light refraction? That’s basic science. Mostly the red and orange portion of the visible spectrum only gets through the atmosphere at that angle. Also there is usually haze, dust, clouds, and moisture at the horizon that scatters sunlight which also contributes to a washed out look in the sky. That’s why sunsets are red-orange. So there’s No software issue here, just ignorance.

With digital cameras, you have to expose for the highlights and lift shadows. Your circled areas are normal with digital cameras and don’t mean a thing. So do you feel a bit more educated now? Can we put this software issue to bed? Where are your samples? Where are your “spectacular images”?

Recent spectacular iPhone 12 pro max photos:

Owned!!

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Dude, chill out. The truth is that you can edit a pixel 4a photo and make it look just like these. One thing is straight from the phone and another thing is editing in dedicated software.

 

[Next Stop]

Here's an example of editing with just 1 TAP straight from my gallery app:

 

[Next Stop]

And here's your original shot:

 

[Next Stop]

I repeat, this is just 1 single tap. Imagine what lightroom and 50 taps can do.
The thing is that we want to see how the phone produces photos, not lightroom.

 

[iG4]

Finally a topic talking about iphone weird colors!! The firsts days I was sad feeling alone with this,
The problem is a IA hdr that is processed without our control i think, the hdr option simply switches between Classic hdr option and this **** new one.
I had the same problemas as everyone,
cartoon colors, unwanted HDR weird skies... really dissapointed

Attached another sample, the first one took with ios camera and ios have "destroyed" the sky smoothness. The second one was shot using lightroom raw.

It was better my iphone7 in some situations

 

[agerly]

Destroyed the sky smoothness? You are taking a photo in direct light of sun! My god, what are you expecting here?

 

[moldy lunchbox]

If OP knows the problem is with iOS 14, then perhaps the title should be named "iOS 14 photo colors are awful", instead of suggesting that his iPhone 12 Pro Max was manufactured incorrectly. Just thinking out loud..

 

[sparksd]

I'm shooting in PhotoRAW on the 12 PM and the results are excellent.

 

[iG4]

Destroyed the sky smoothness? You are taking a photo in direct light of sun! My god, what are you expecting here?

I expect to see the sun and sky as the right photo that I took with lightroom raw (skipping ios computational crap),

using 3 party soft is a partial solution because you cannot access do raw photos using wide lens (because apple limitation) and it's slower than simply using camera icons...
I only want to have the option to disable the computational pictures if I need... of course there is a lot of situations wich everything works well and you can take good pictures but is annoying when not.

 

[sparksd]

I expect to see the sun and sky as the right photo that I took with lightroom raw (skipping ios computational crap),

using 3 party soft is a partial solution because you cannot access do raw photos using wide lens (because apple limitation) and it's slower than simply using camera icons...
I only want to have the option to disable the computational pictures if I need... of course there is a lot of situations wich everything works well and you can take good pictures but is annoying when not.

What do you mean "cannot access do raw photos using wide lens (because apple limitation)"? The 12 Pro Max can shoot ProRAW at 0.5x.

 

[ToddH]

I expect to see the sun and sky as the right photo that I took with lightroom raw (skipping ios computational crap),

using 3 party soft is a partial solution because you cannot access do raw photos using wide lens (because apple limitation) and it's slower than simply using camera icons...
I only want to have the option to disable the computational pictures if I need... of course there is a lot of situations wich everything works well and you can take good pictures but is annoying when not.

Oh my... are you still complaining about the iPhone camera software??? Wow! Well while your complaining, myself and everyone else is out shooting and heavily enjoying Apple ProRAW. The photos are the best and cleanest I’ve ever had. Night mode in ProRAW is stunning! Have you tried the pixel 5 or the Samsung S20? They aren’t as good, I’m just trying to help you switch. Maybe you’ll like them....

 

[iG4]

Oh my... are you still complaining about the iPhone camera software??? Wow! Well while your complaining, myself and everyone else is out shooting and heavily enjoying Apple ProRAW. The photos are the best and cleanest I’ve ever had. Night mode in ProRAW is stunning! Have you tried the pixel 5 or the Samsung S20? They aren’t as good, I’m just trying to help you switch. Maybe you’ll like them....

Yes! But unfortunately only available on pro max. I have the iphone 12, when I bought it I didnt know that proraw exclusivity.

maybe in the future apple will open it to the rest of iphones.

best wishes of everyone people, and happy new year

 

[ToddH]

Yes! But unfortunately only available on pro max. I have the iphone 12, when I bought it I didnt know that proraw exclusivity.

maybe in the future apple will open it to the rest of iphones.

best wishes of everyone people, and happy new year

Happy new year to you as well. You mentioned that ProRAW was only on the pro max, it’s available on the 12 pro and pro max. Can you return the 12 and get the 12 pro?

 

[iG4]

Happy new year to you as well. You mentioned that ProRAW was only on the pro max, it’s available on the 12 pro and pro max. Can you return the 12 and get the 12 pro?

Unfortunatelly this time I bought the iphone in a local authorized distributor in order to help the local commerce.. but I discoverded that then you don't have the apple returning politics (at least in spain) and I haven't able to do it now.. lesson learned.

I have to say that the new iphone is doing thing very well in most (majority) situations so it's ok and I'm hally with it. Simply there are situations that previous phones did better thanks to not using IA.

I think that I will change to pro in the next iphone update using apple trade in in order to have ProRaw and major picture control.

Thanks to all for the discussion!

 

[petres]

Hi guys, got my iphone 12pro a 14 weeks ago and I must say, this AI postprocessing works really really bad in low light conditions. I would like to do shots of night city for instance, the preview looks great, but after i do the shot and immediatelly go to the photo gallery, I can see how the photo is changed to have more contrasty colors and in many occasions, it simply ruins the photo. I tried to fiddle with Smart HDR switch, Night mode and so, but even when HDR is off, night mode off, scene detection off, and exposition slightly lowered it still does this. Even when using third party apps like Halide wont help. Just look at those pictures. Do you guys have any advice how to soften this aggressive postporocessing? I dont want to fiddle with editing pro RAW, I am not a professional photographer, I just want the phone to process photos less agressively. Thank you for your advice.

 

[sparksd]

Hi guys, got my iphone 12pro a 14 weeks ago and I must say, this AI postprocessing works really really bad in low light conditions. I would like to do shots of night city for instance, the preview looks great, but after i do the shot and immediatelly go to the photo gallery, I can see how the photo is changed to have more contrasty colors and in many occasions, it simply ruins the photo. I tried to fiddle with Smart HDR switch, Night mode and so, but even when HDR is off, night mode off, scene detection off, and exposition slightly lowered it still does this. Even when using third party apps like Halide wont help. Just look at those pictures. Do you guys have any advice how to soften this aggressive postporocessing? I dont want to fiddle with editing pro RAW, I am not a professional photographer, I just want the phone to process photos less agressively. Thank you for your advice.

The aggressive processing is why I only shoot ProRAW with the 12 PM. I do my postprocessing in Lightroom but the editor in Photos is actually quite good and easy to use - you don't have to be a pro (or highly skilled amateur) to make a few edits that make a significant difference and produce a very nice image. My suggestion is that you at least give it a try - it sounds more complicated than it really is and you'll be happier with the resulting images.

 

[petres]

The aggressive processing is why I only shoot ProRAW with the 12 PM. I do my postprocessing in Lightroom but the editor in Photos is actually quite good and easy to use - you don't have to be a pro (or highly skilled amateur) to make a few edits that make a significant difference and produce a very nice image. My suggestion is that you at least give it a try - it sounds more complicated than it really is and you'll be happier with the resulting images.

Yes I actually gave it a try, but I lack the option to apply the same set of edits to all pictures from the same batch. Does lightroom have this feature? Thx

 

[sparksd]

Yes I actually gave it a try, but I lack the option to apply the same set of edits to all pictures from the same batch. Does lightroom have this feature? Thx

In Lightroom you can use edit presets and copy and paste edit settings.

 

[sparksd]

In Lightroom you can use edit presets and copy and paste edit settings.

To add to this: in Import Preferences, you set RAW Default Settings, e.g. when RAW images are imported into Lightroom, you can have one of your own edit presets applied to the new imports.

 

[Agonya]

hello everybody
Its only one thread ive found so far. Can someone help me? Ive switched from iphone 8 plus for 12 pro and im so dissapointed in colours reflection! The biggest problem appears in late afternoon hours/evening pictures. Instead of pink/blue colours i see orange and gray, for comparition next to huawei p30 pro iphone comes out very weak, is there anything i can do? I dont think returning phone will help. Look at this... its not quality i expected(just random shot) . This dominating orange is frustrating

 

[poppyandlily]

I agree! It’s awful…over-saturated skies. I just got my phone today and it’s disappointing. The only workaround I can think of, other than post editing, is to dial up the exposure, but the setting aren’t very sensitive…between .7 (which is a barely noticeable lighter tweak) and 1.0 which just blows out the skies, there’s not a subtle shift. I hope they fix this. And, yes, I had HDR off too.