Now, files recorded using the Pixel Shift mode in the Sony a7R III can be opened in Lightroom Classic CC after the update released on April 8th, but maybe many of you wouldn't know it by looking at the update's release notes. Marc Alhadeff of
Sony Alpha Blog spotted the update, which adds support for the ARQ files that are produced once the original a7R III files have passed through Sony’s own Imaging Edge software. Of course, Imaging Edge is still needed to combine the four ARW raw files into a single image, which it outputs as a raw ARQ file.
While it's still recommended for giving the third-party
SonyPixelShift2DNG software a go if you're working with these files extensively, this additional support is definitely a step in the right direction for Adobe. Previously, ARQ files would need to be converted to DNGs in order to be edited in any of the Adobe products. But now, with Lightroom Classic CC 7.3, the ARQ file can be read without conversion.
