Common Colour Problems with Capture One for Mac

Occasionally, problems arise where the colour of a processed image viewed in an external application such as Photoshop does not match the preview image shown within Capture One. If this occurs, check that:

If you are confident that the above are correct and you still have colour problems, then you need to investigate further. There are 2 common causes for this problem:


Cause 1: Problems with Image and/or Capture One Preference Files

Common symptoms of this problem are:

This is a common sign of .plist (preference file) corruption for either individual image(s) or the Capture One application.

If this happens for just a few images of a session, then it is likely that the preference files for those particular images are corrupt. Each image has a preference file that contains all the edits that have been applied in Capture One. The preference file will be called xxxxxxx.tif.plist, where xxxxxxx is the image name. The image preference files are located inside the Capture One Settings:ImageSettings folder within the Capture folder for the session.

  1. Quit Capture One
  2. Locate the .plist file for the problem image and delete it or move it outside of the Capture One Settings:ImageSettings folder.
  3. Restart Capture One. You will need to re-apply all the edits for that particular image

If the symptoms apply to all the images output by Capture One, or deleting the image preference files doesn't work, try deleting the Capture One application preference file. Note: In addition to deleting the preferences you have set for Capture One, this procedure will also clear the session list. You will have to Add your sessions back-in on restarting Capture One (the sessions aren't deleted, but Capture One won't know that they exist until they are added in again). If you have a lot of sessions defined, you may want to try replacing the following files from an earlier, clean, back-up instead of deleting them (thanks to jkannair for this suggestion):

  1. Quit Capture One
  2. Delete or replace the following files:
  3. Restart Capture One. You will need to re-apply all the application preferences and add your sessions back in, but edits to individual images should not be lost.

Cause 2: Problems with Colorsync

Common symptoms of this problem are: The above may be due to a problem with the Mac Os X Colorsync preferences in which the incorrect profile is used for the monitor (typically "Generic RGB Profile.icc" is used rather than the display profile set under System Preferences:Displays:Color). This problem affects all software that uses Colorsync for display colour management, including Capture One. It does not affect Photoshop, because Photoshop by-passes Colorsync and uses its own system to colour manage the display. The result is a mismatch in the displayed colour when the same image is viewed using Photoshop compared with Colorsync-based applications.

You can test for this problem by running the following AppleScript (which can be downloaded here):

tell application "ColorSyncScripting"

  set dispProfile to ""
  set numDisplays to count displays

  repeat with i from 1 to numDisplays
    set dispProfile to dispProfile & "Display" & i & ": " & name of display profile of display i & return
  end repeat

end tell

This script shows the ColorSync profiles that Mac Os X is actually using for each of your displays. Do these match the profiles you have specified under System Preferences:Displays:Colour? If not, then you have a problem with your ColorSync preferences.
 

The problem can be fixed by deleting the ColorSync preferences and re-booting. Unfortunately, the ColorSync preferences are stored in hidden files, so you will need to enter the following commands in the Terminal utility to delete them.

Note: This process will also delete some of your other system preferences, as they are stored in the same file. These preferences will need to be reset. The procedure is:

  1. Enter the following commands in the Terminal (found in Applications/Utilities) to delete the preference files:

    For MacOs 10.3.x and 10.4.x:

    rm ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/.GlobalPref*
    sudo rm /Library/Caches/com.apple.colorsync.profiles.*

    For MacOs 10.2.x:

    rm ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/.GlobalPref*
    rm ~/Library/Preferences/'ColorSync Cache'

    You should be able to copy and paste the appropriate lines directly into the terminal window. Enter your admin password when prompted.

  2. Re-boot your Mac immediately. The machine will start up and write new preference files. You will notice that the display brightness will be off as the calibration curve in the default factory ColorSync profile will be applied to the video card.

  3. Select your monitor profile using System Preferences:Displays:Color.

    The brightness should change as you see your new profile applied. You will also need to re-apply a few other preferences, in particular those in SystemPreferences: Appearance, General (MacOs 10.2.x), Energy Saver (MacOs 10.2.x), International and Sound which are also stored in the preference files. If you are using multiple monitors, check that the correct profile is assigned to each screen using the Colorsync Utility (in the Applications/Utilities folder). Switch to the Devices tab and check each of the displays listed.

  4. Re-boot again, just to make sure that the new settings have 'taken'

Standard Disclaimer: You use the above at your own risk. I am not responsible for any losses etc. that may occur throught using the above procedure. If you don't agree to these terms, do not use any of the procedures described.

Jason Sewell

Last Updated 20th Nov 2005: Added AppleScript to test for problems with ColorSync preferences.