macOS Ventura v 13.6.9 - issue with calibritePROFILER

Oh, DUH! I just realized the colorimeter you're using is out of production. The Calibrite software doesn't support that model. These are the only ones, which are all newer units:

Calibrite Display 123

Calibrite Display SL

Calibrite Display Pro HL

Calibrite Display Plus HL

ColorChecker Display

ColorChecker Display Pro

ColorChecker Display Plus

So, I went back to X-Rite's site to look up your model (that's where I finally found it's an out of production unit). If you check for the latest software, it tells you to go to calibrite.com, which is pointless since the software there doesn't support your device.

That led me over to X-Rite's main download page where I figured, what the heck, I'll just look to see what devices i1Profiler supports. And there in the listing, it plainly states:

Version 3.7.1

Upgrade Notes – This was the last i1Profiler release to support the i1Display family of display colorimeters. These devices will be supported in software from X-Rite’s partner Calibrite. Please go to www.calibrite.com to download new software.

i1Profiler 3.7.1 adds support for macOS 14 (Sonoma).

And we already know the second sentence isn't true. At least not if the user has an older device.

It appears then your best bet is to install i1Profiler 3.7.1.

I've used X-Rite's stuff for about four decades, and one thing in particular that will drive you nuts is how quickly they mothball older devices. Nothing wrong with what you have, works just fine, but it suddenly gets dropped from software support. It's a very forced, and expensive, upgrade train they try to keep their users on.

Not that it's impossible to keep using your older devices, but you then have to dead-end yourself with the last version of software that supports your device, and the last OS it will run under. But plenty of print shops do that. No way are they going to unnecessarily toss a $3,000 i1iSis auto-reading spectrophotometer that has nothing wrong with it. They just keep an older Mac or Windows machine running to use it for that one purpose.

On the flip side (to be fair), some equipment has to be left in the dust. And these types of colorimeters are always the first to go. The issue is that monitors are advancing rapidly. Both in the nits (brightness) they can emit, and much wider color gamuts. Even compared to displays from just a few years ago.

What happens is the older colorimeters can't handle this output. Sure, you can still run the software with the older device and create what you think is a usable monitor profile. But, it's actually not a very good profile. The output from the monitor exceeds the colorimeter's physical ability to handle the output (clipped) and can't produce an accurate result. The current low end Display SL can handle 1,000 nits. Which sounds like a lot until you compare it to the Display Plus HL, which can handle 10,000 nits.

Edit: Or, you can go back to calibrite.com on the software downloads page. Scroll down to the bottom of older software. ccProfiler 1.1.4 supports your colorimeter.

I have to wonder if this has anything to do with the OS or not. While I did sell most of my equipment after closing down our in-home business a few years ago, I do still have an X-Rite i1Pro 3 PLUS I use with i1Profiler. The XRD driver i1Profiler installs is 3.0.152. This is working just fine in Sonoma 14.6.1.

Couple of things to try. First would be to create a new user account for testing. Login to the new account and test the i1DisplayPRO plus there. Since the XRD drivers exist in the root Library folder, you shouldn't have to install it again.

If it works in a new account, then something in your main/normal account is interfering. In order for your fellow users here help you track down what may be the issue, download and run EtreCheck. When it's done running, copy/paste the report here, using the Additional text option (they're normally too long for the regular reply box).

All personal information is automatically redacted from the report.

You were in the right place:

Library>Application Support> X-Rite> Framework

If you highlight that Framework folder and do a Get Info, the version number will be shown.

I sounds like you removed, then reinstalled the Calibrate software in your main user account. In order to test and see if something in that account is causing the failure, open the System Settings. Guessing a bit here for the exact steps as I'm currently on my iPad. But once in the settings panel, click on Users & Groups. Choose to create a new account. A standard account is fine, it doesn't need to be admin.

Once created, log out of your main account and into the new test account. Check to see if your device works there.

Hmm, sounds like the device driver isn't loading. On the same page linked to above, they have a separate download for just the driver. It's a rather old version, but try that.

There's a bit newer one here, but I don't know which devices it supports.

You're welcome. 🙂 Though I'm not certain from your response that the device is now working.

I also just noticed that the second link is for a newer version of the same XRD driver. The one on calibrate.com is version 3.0.132. The link to X-Rite's page clearly states:

Version: v3.0.150

Previous Version: v3.0.132

So, if it's still not working, try the newer 3.0.150 version.

You have an amazing understanding of it all. And it makes a huge difference when it comes to the real print results.

Thanks! Though I must admit it's mainly because I forced myself into it. The earliest machines I did color and retouching work on were Scitex Imager III workstations. This is roughly 6 some years before Photoshop 1.0 existed. The only way to calibrate those were to first make CMYK proofs of specific CMYK colors. Then, as best as possible, eyeball match those colors to a patch set the software ran to create its own profile. Hardly scientific, but that's all there was.

Anyway, I started my own in-home business doing prepress work and ended up tossing myself head first into learning real color management. It's a bit mind boggling at first, but you reach a point where it clicks, and then you wonder why it seemed so difficult to understand before.

A new one I had to experiment with was with my iPhone 14 Pro. I had sold all of my other camera gear as I no longer needed it (Nikon D800, along with all of my lenses, etc.)

But, how in the world do you use your Color Checker, or Digital Color Checker charts with an iPhone? I shoot everything as RAW, and whenever possible, at 1x so I get a 48 MP, DNG image.

You can't just open the DNG shot of your chart in Camera RAW of Photoshop to a TIFF since it's then been processed, and is no longer a raw, uncontrolled color rendition of the image. Trying to make a profile from the target always resulted in weird results.

The solution is to do your profiling directly with the DNG image with X-Rite's Color Checker Camera Calibration app. Drop your DNG image (that has a color checker chart in it) onto the app. Position the target boxes as necessary and save a profile. Then you select that profile in Camera RAW.

Just to check, are you using the latest 1.3.2 version of calibratePROFILER?

https://calibrite.com/us/software-downloads/