Capture One and macOS 11 Big Sur - FireWire tethering warning

Posted on December 09, 2020

macOS 11 Big Sur - do not upgrade if you tether via FireWire.

Big Sur Fire Wire Tethering

No more FireWire connectivity in macOS 11 Big Sur

Please be aware the new macOS 11 Big Sur no longer supports FireWire devices.

This includes:

• Tethering with Phase One P series or P+ series digital backs
• Tethering via FireWire with Phase One IQ1, IQ2 or IQ3 series digital backs
• FireWire Hard Drives
• FireWire Scanners (like FlexTight)

No more FireWire connectivity from Capture One 21.2 (14.2)

Please be aware that from Capture One 21.2 (14.2) and onwards, there is no support for FireWire tethering for any Phase One of Leaf digital back. This is the situation regardless of the operating system version that you are running.


The last version of macOS to support FireWire tethering is macOS 10.15.7 Catalina.
The last version of Capture one to support FireWire tethering is Capture One 21.1.1 (14.1.2)


We suggest always turning off Auto update for your mac OS. If this is not turned off, your Mac will automatically update to the latest operating system.

If you accidentally install macOS 11 Big Sur or another version of an operating system that renders any of your software non-functioning, you can restore from a back-up.

If you do not have the ability to restore from a back-up, we are able to wipe your machine and re-install the version of macOS you desire/require.

(Fees apply, you need to backup your data. If you require this service, we will wipe/erase your main internal storage. Specular are not responsible for any data loss in this process)

For more information please contact us.

Melbourne 03 9091 2111

Sydney 02 7922 3833

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