Here's another picture of the damage.

Thanks luis-pr.

I need to get a microscope or magnifying glass but these pictures might indeed show mites?

Yes luis-pr, I googled "Eleanor McCown", aka Camellia Japonica This bush does seem to match. Interesting that the blooms from the same branch can be pink+white or pure red or pure white.

Yeah, nothing you can do to fix the affected leaves.

By the way, if you apply a miticide, you need to apply it at least several times per label directions. First time, the miticide kills mites that are out there but the ones in eggs remain. The other applications try to kill those mites that were in unhatched eggs and other mites that may show up later. I had this issue with azaleas several years ago. The affected leaves stayed on until the next winter, fell down and then I got new leaves. You will have to wait for the camellias to go thru the cycle now. But I would be tempted to take out the worst ones id just for aesthetic reasons.

I guess it's been a year. I'm having another Spring outbreak of mites. That, or I have them year-round and notice the wounded leaves more as the new green ones appear.

This spring, I've sprayed the leaves with a hose a couple times (apparently spider mites don't like moisture), plus last weekend I sprayed neem oil (as a safe miticide). I'll see if those help. As luis_pr mentioned, I'll spray the neem 3+ times. I've read that eggs hatch roughly every week so spraying once a week should help.

Sharing my Internet learnings about pruning and lady bugs:

Articles have instructed me that camellias should be pruned for enough air flow to reduce diseases -- basically enough branch spacing for a small bird to fly through, which indeed matches the many camellias of a local private garden. I'll see what I can do to improve airflow without sacrificing too much privacy screening from the neighbors.

Also, apparently buying adult lady bugs doesn't do much against mites. They devour larger prey like aphids. I didn't have any aphids so they all flew away. I may try ordering ladybug larvae this time both so they'll eat the smaller mites, and since they can't escape as quickly.