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LOL, I came from the 11 pro max to the 12 pro max just for the camera alone and as a professional photographer I can tell you and everyone else that your statement isn’t true. When you have a wide camera with a 47% larger sensor and f/1.6 optics with an additional lens in the camera, the 12 pro max main camera is superior. The larger the sensor, the better the image quality. Night mode on the 12 pro max is better than the 11 pro max, raw files are better, video is definitely better. Here is a great article for you regarding the 12 pro max camera:

 
OP must be a guy hanging onto his iPhone 11 and trying to talk himself out of the 12 lol

I’m not sure that is necessarily the case. I’m not a professional photographer either by any stretch, but to my eye the pictures from my 11PM (which is already gone now) look better than the pictures taken from this new phone. My wife and I upgraded because we have a toddler, so the extra image stabilization was appealing to us. Plus we take a lot of pictures of the kid, so any bump in quality is a good upgrade in our eye.

Two things have stood out to us in looking at old vs new photos:

1) The pictures are noticeably darker.

2) The pictures are noticeably blurrier.

The first can be fixed with something like Lightroom, the second is more problematic for us. It’s something both of us saw independently and pretty early on with using it.

I understand that technically speaking the camera system in the new phone is an improvement from even last year’s phone, but to the eye there is definitely something off with the pictures it is spitting out.
 
lol I’m not sure what you’re seeing but I also have both phones and I much prefer 12 PM camera. The 11 PM has a great camera but the 12 is much more sharper and the image stabilization is great. I enjoy taking photos more on the 12 than the 11, especially for social media. I would love to see some comparisons to see what you see.
 
The 11PM Pics are a lot noisier and harsher to lighting on surfaces and people’s faces. Noise is what kills it for me on 11 PM. Indoors, 11PM treats people’s faces too harshly, esp when there is light above subject. Forehead bright but the rest of face features too dark. I think that 11 PM got noisier with the software updates despite Deep Fusion...if anything, i think that Apple messed up 11PM camera with the updates. I never remembered 11PM was that noisy when Apple first released it.

12PM photo is just better in every aspect. There is ONE area where 12PM did not improve...and that is details when pixel peeping. 11PM is very noisy but retains same details as 12PM. I hope that Apple can further pull more details out of 12PM sensor without adding more noise.
 
I noticed some inconsistency in the camera with my launch day 12 PM. Some pictures came out great, others darker, but all conditions were the same. So I decided to get another to see if it was just me or if it really was the camera. Turns out in my case, it seems to have been the camera. I say ”seems” because I can’t duplicate some of the scenarios again, but I’ve been far more satisfied with the pictures taken since.

Maybe do an exchange and see how that goes. This camera beats the 11PM in Night Mode, no question.
 
I've had both phones and the 12PM is definitely a better camera. I'm no photographer but I can see the difference as can my wife. Night shots especially are superior on the 12PM.
 
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The pictures from my wife's 11PM and my 12PM are both very good and you can hardly find any difference even after taking a really, really close look. This goes for pictures from the main lens as well as portrait, zoom, ultrawide, and low light photos. And compared to my X, which already took quality photos, the 12PM is noticeably better.
 
I am not a photographer and have little photography knowledge but I have noticed this.... my 11 Pro overall took better (too me anyway) photos than my 12 PM. Perhaps I am ‘holding it wrong’ or something.
 
Not the biggest fan at all of DxO but at least you can compare within same brand.
 

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Like what Halide developer said in the article above, i think that if APPLE can allow for slightly LESS noise reduction, the 12 PM will further separate itself from everyone else. Right now, the noise reduction is very aggressive...maybe a way to equalize 12 Pro and 12 Pro max?? But that is unfortunate in limiting 12 PM potential.
 
OP must be a guy hanging onto his iPhone 11 and trying to talk himself out of the 12 lol

Check my posts. I bought the 12 Pro Max. I have the 11 Pro Max. Ive taken pics in multiple environments. the 11 Pro Max produces photos that are more vibrant and less washed out than the 12 Pro Max.
Just look at the OP's post history... he is trying hard to convince himself in severl threads that the 12 series is worse that the 11. Sad.

Not really, I said the 12 Pro Max display is much better which is one of the most important features on a phone.

Read the forum - there are other threads saying the 12 Pro Max’s pics look washed out compared to the 11 Pro Max.
 
Check my posts. I bought the 12 Pro Max. I have the 11 Pro Max. Ive taken pics in multiple environments. the 11 Pro Max produces photos that are more vibrant and less washed out than the 12 Pro Max.


Not really, I said the 12 Pro Max display is much better which is one of the most important features on a phone.

Read the forum - there are other threads saying the 12 Pro Max’s pics look washed out compared to the 11 Pro Max.
Something wrong with your phone. I have both as well.
 
Not the Max, but read the replies. It’s up for debate.

 
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