iPhone 12 Pro Max, and 12 skin tone color issues

After owning and LOVING my iPhone 8+ for years, and taking amazing photos which were published in many local magazines and sites, I decided to upgrade to the latest iPhone.

I know, Why!?

Why fix something that’s not broken.

Bad mistake, really.

For one reason I was headed to Hawaii, a much anticipated post Covid family trip, and I didn’t want to take my big DSLR on hikes and other activities. Plus, I heard great reviews on iPhone 12 Pro and pro max, and that the camera is awesome! That’s what I was interested in. I am a photographer for living, and I know how to use an iPhone to take great photos. I was excited and went for IPhone 12 ProMax.

I immediately noticed photos are not crisp and sharp, the colors were off, exposure blasted, skin tones were way off in daylight settings, very low contrast, smoothed out, photoshopped looking in a weird way. All my landscape photos had a strange blue haze filter. I tried to fix what I could in Lightroom but the skin tones were just not working out.

Photos looked awful! :( I was very disappointed. This was a family trip and we hadn’t seen each other for years, photos were important. Plus, being the photographer in the group, they relied on me for great photos. Ugh.

When we returned home I took the phone to the Apple store and explained the situation. They didn’t have any answer, but tried to reset, even put a new unit but the problem existed.

I returned 12 proMax and downgraded to regular iPhone 12, non Pro, and still same problem.

The Apple people told me my option at this point is to buy iPhone 11.

Apple community, any suggestions?

I’ve seen a lot of other threads on this topic but no answers. What’s going on?

Can anyone help?

Thanks