Does converting a latest camera RAW file to DNG for older version of LR 6.14 have any drawbacks?

[PRSS2K]

Hello All !

Maybe this question has been asked before - I only got confused through Google search. So, at the outset,  kindly excuse me for asking it again.

I have LR 6.14 perpetual license and it is running on Winodws 7 and I wish to stick to this since my expensive desktop is still very good, and all other older versions of software for my other uses still work for me so I have no reason to upgrade my hardware or software.

Now, this is where I am caught. I very recently switched over from Nikon D500 system to Sony A7M3 system. My old LR 6.14 would not recognize the ARW file of Sony A7M3. Converting them to DNG to Camera Raw 7.1, does work with LR 6.14 and apparently I am not seeing any disadvantages since I am able to use all the LR 6.14 features.

What I am wondering is that are there any hidden drawbacks which I might not have noticed ? Features of LR 6.14 are eough for me for my Post processing of RAW files. If i wanted to do any further image editing, I save it as 16 bit Tiff and work in Affinity Photo 1.10.4 (even though Affinity Photo could open my Sony A7M3 ARW files, natively, the features of Affinity "Develop Persona" are less than that of LR 6.14 and most importantly, I feel it cannot do lossless editing if I wished to continue from where I left off, in another session, once I had taken it to Photo Persona).

I am just a Hobbyist and cannot afford to the subscription model of Adobe. So I have to be put up with LR 6.14. Sorry for the long explanation. Once again, I humbly ask, is there any hidden drawbacks in what i am now doing ? Converting to DNG and using LR 6.14 for edits?

Thanking you in advance.

[dj_paige]

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/file-types/image/comparison/dng-vs-raw.html

[PRSS2K]

Thank you very much for the quick response. I shall go through the link.

[DdeGannes]

The only thing in my opinion, is that the Sony Software provided by your Camera Manufacturer, will not be able to use the DNG file so it's advisable to retain a copy of the original raw file.

[PRSS2K]

Thank you very much DdeGannes for your tip. Yes, shall remember that.

[Mohamed22663199rxlp]

Your welcome

[Jim Wilde]

IIRC, one thing you would not get with the DNG files would be any camera-matching profiles for the camera (in the Camera Calibration panel in the Develop module), you would probably only have the Adobe Standard profile. Camera-matching profiles would only be available in any version of Lightroom which offers raw support for the camera model. 

[PRSS2K]

Thank you Jim Wilde for the information.