Spectro options for arm64 Macs

[cjack]

Which spectrometers (and which software) will currently run natively on arm64 (M1, M2 etc) Macs?

I’m on OS X Ventura / M1 Mac (but likely to upgrade to M4 and newest OS X soon).

Alas I can no longer use my trusty ColorMunki Photo. I had been running a VirtualBox hosting OS X Mojave but now even that won’t run on my recently acquired M1 due to the arm64 architecture not playing ball with Mojave’s X86 code.

Are the following spectros all viable? And if so are there any real differences when using strictly for PPEv2 (other than price)?

i1 Eye-One Pro UVCut ES-1000
i1 Pro version 2
i1 Pro rev E - ES-2000

What software would I use to measure test charts and how would I get the readings into PPEv2 spreadsheet?

The new i1Studio will run on my M1, and even recognises ColorMunki, but i1Studio does not seem to have the ability to spot read, as ColorPicker used to.

With my ColorMunki I used to spot read using ColorPicker in my Mojave VM, export readings as CSV, then copy paste luminance values into PPEv2 sheet.

[jon-cone]

My recommendation to you is to purchase a $50-$75 mac mini on eBay running Monterey or earlier… and to use it as both a printer server so that you can enjoy all the features QTR was intended to employ as well as OS X printer saved settings and to use i1 Pro or ColorPort or even employ Adobe Color Utility if you ever want to make ICC color profiles. You can still download legacy software from x-Rite but that will not last much longer. i1Profiler is still available… you can get your data from there.

[jsking]

Jon’s approach of keeping a Mac mini around with Monterey is the easiest way to use multiple spectro options via ColorPort. I keep a MacPro Tower 2012 running until last year with multiple hacks of firmware, duct tape and bailing wire and some pixie dust until I just got tired of chasing it. The Mac mini approach is definitely the easiest way to go.

That said, I have an M2 MacStudio running Sequoia 15.1.1 and using i1Profiler v3.8.4 with no issues. PPVEv2 with Excel and Print Tool as well. All running without issue. For spectros I hae an i1Pro3, and eye-one ISis.

[cjack]

Thanks both, for your considered replies. that does give me some options.

As it is possible to run an i1 Pro natively on the new M# Macs with recent i1Profiler I think I’m more inclined to go that route. I’m running everything from a laptop and haven’t gotten on great with splitting tasks over multiple machines when I’ve tried it in the past, more for ease of my creative flow than anything else.

From what I can gather the only i1 Pros which are compatible with i1Profiler 3.8.4 are the following:

i1 Pro 2
i1 Pro 3
i1 Pro 3 Plus

The software also shows a little thumbnail of the Spectro as so

I have found a “EFI ES-2000 X-rite i1 PRO Rev E Spectrophotometer” for sale (£295). It looks just like the thumbnail in i1Profiler. But is it compatible?

Finding it very hard to discern the versioning of the hardware! Any tips appreciated.

[bw_studio]

The EIS-2000 will NOT work with i1Profiler to create new profiles. After lots of research, I found one person who said it works just enough to read charts but not to create a profile, and several people said it works fine with the Argyll CMS software. But if you want a device that “just works” with the i1Profiler software including all of its features, get an “i1Pro 2” rather than an EIS-2000. From various internet posts it seems these two devices have equivalent hardware, but the licensing info that is bound to the devices is different, so i1Profiler treats them differently.

I went through this a few months ago while looking to find an “i1Pro 2” on eBay after X-Rite dropped support for the “i1Pro 1” from all available versions of i1Profiler. Many listings will try to pass off an EIS-2000 as an “i1Pro 2” – unclear if this is intentionally misleading or just a misunderstanding by the seller. The best listings include the text output (the log file) generated by the free “i1Diagnostics” app, which lists all of the licenses included with the device. For Piezography, you probably want licenses for both i1Profiler “Monitor Profiling” and “RGB Printer Profiling”. The i1Diagnostics output clearly states whether each license is included or not.

The “i1Pro 1” and “i1Pro 2” look very different, but the product labels attached to the devices are quite similar, the only difference there is the “i1Pro 2” says “Rev E” rather than “Rev D” or earlier.

[cjack]

I took a plunge on an ES-2000, and while you are correct @bw_studio in that it does not work to create profiles in i1Profiler, it does actually work in i1Profiler to take measurements.

I can confirm that with the ES-2000 plugged in I am able to load .pwxf Piezography test chart files into i1Profiler and then take measurements (in spot mode only - see further below) of the printed chart using the ES-2000 that I can then save as .txt files, from which I can get the data (namely L values) that I need to copy-paste into PPEv2 spreadsheet.

I am running i1Profiler 3.8.4 on Mac OS Ventura 13.5, M1 Max MBP.

See here the screen when Advanced mode is selected in i1Profiler. Most functions are marked “demo”, except crucially “Measure chart”, which I have circled in red. Note I do not have all the licenses you mention (which as you rightly point out are needed for making profiles - but only if doing so entirely within i1Profiler). I bought the ES-2000 as unused (unregistered) but have not registered or verified it with any license codes in any way.

There is a little weirdness with i1Profiler in that each time I start the program up it is not immediately able to load the .pwxf files that accompany each test chart .tiff file - they appear greyed out in the load window. However if one hits the “Load Workflow” button and then from the load window right click and “Quick Look” on the relevant .pwxf file, then tap away Quick Look, the file is now selected and can be opened. Sometimes I need to Load Workflow → open the .pwxf file a second time for the test chart to show up in the i1Profiler window. Loaded up properly it should look as so:

So, brilliant, I can indeed use the ES-2000 with recent Mac OS on an arm64 Mac for taking piezography measurements - all good, right? Well, no, not quite. While I get results as expected taking measurements in spot mode, I am repeatedly getting a sawtooth line when taking measurements in scan mode.

This is what I get when taking spot measurements of a test chart printed on paper using a curve that I have previously linearised and ink limited for that paper to as ‘perfect’ as I could get it, so it is a good reference.

But when I take measurements of the exact same test chart print using scan mode, it looks as so:

I have left off any smoothing at all just to show the full extent of the difference.
I have checked the sample ID, position and sample name of each measurement in the saved measurements .txt files and can see that i1Profiler looks to be compiling the measurements in the proper order just fine.

Has anyone experienced sawtooth measurements with an i1Pro 2 or ES-2000?

Is it dodgy hardware? Or is it firmware related? If it is to do with it being an ES-2000 then how come spot measuring seems fine?

I get the same outcome whether measuring a 51 step chart or a 129 step chart.

I have tried with the 21x16 and 31x9 charts but - another weirdness - I cannot seem to get past measuring the first line of those charts, I just get told by i1Profiler of a measurement error and that I need to try slower (I am being very slow and precise). Maybe that’s something to do with the .pwxf files for those charts though?!

[cjack]

Jon’s approach of keeping a Mac mini around with Monterey is the easiest way to use multiple spectro options via ColorPort

I downloaded the 2.0.3 version of ColorPort shared on the other thread, however it won’t run on Big Sur, so obviously not on Monterey either.

I can’t figure out which version of ColorPort will run on Big Sur/Monterey. Has anyone else got an install file they could share?

I’m exploring all options here - both old and new OS’s.