Sony A7 III - Camera RAW

[ulft1963]

Just got my Sony A7 III. Took some pictures in RAW-format, but Lightroom can't import the files. I have the latest Camera Raw installed. Isn't the fileformat supported yet? (ARW)

Ulf

[subhaaj]

hello, do you know if a similar update for the A7iii is available for LR6?

[johnrellis]

hello, do you know if a similar update for the A7iii is available for LR6?

The Sony A7 III requires LR 7.3 or later to import its raws directly. However, you can download the free Adobe DNG converter to convert the A7 III raws to DNG format, which you can then import into LR: Adobe Digital Negative Converter

[Jao vdL]

You can't seriously expect Adobe to support cameras that you can't even get yet. Sony doesn't share prerelease cameras with Adobe or other raw converted makers so they have to go out and buy a camera and profile it when it comes out from the same places where we buy them from. Then the profiles have to get rolled into the next release. If you want this faster, lobby camera makers to use an open format that can carry rendering profiles (i.e. the open standard dng) or to share their cameras with raw conversion software makers before releasing it to the public.

We're due for a release. It might well have support for this camera. It might not.

[Bone2k]

The camera has been released in Europe 2 weeks ago. I have bought mine in a regular photography store in Germany. So I imagine there are quiet a few people now urgently waiting to get raw support.

Just to repeat my post from above in the thread: It is possible to convert the SONY A7 III raw files to A7 II format with exiftool and make them fully useable in lightroom. Until native raw support is released this works fine for me.

[robertn38849595]

Hi Guys,

i got the same problem an fixed it. It's a workaround, but as long as i can edit the raw files, i'm happy

You just have to edit exfi meta data of each RAW, sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't

If got the idea from this youtube video Sony A7III - Import RAW files into Adobe Lightroom FIX  for windows - YouTube

Quick start Guide

1. Download the exfitool - https://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/

2. Create a batch file (windows) with the following commands in it - "%~dp0exiftool.exe -sonymodelid="ILCE-7M2" -ext ARW -r %~dp0"

3. Copy the "exiftool.exe" and the batchfile into the folder where the raw files are

4. Run the batchfile with a doubleclick, know the "exfitool" changes the camera model name from "ILCE-7M3" to "ILCE-7M2"

5. The tool creates new files an renames the original, you can leave or delet them, as you like

If you don't know how to create a batch, you can download it form here - https://1drv.ms/f/s!Ald1Tbg_U3NC0FErvoFV2_mtkpl2

The script is actually only for windows, but if someone owns a mac, it would be nice if you adopt the script

Greetings Robert

[99jon]

Adobe has launched a new update today which includes support for the A7 mk iii.

I’ve made a blog post summarizing the main features of the current update:

What’s New in the Lightroom April 2018 Release

[LotharW]

Hallo,

mein Englisch ist schlecht, ich hoffe es kann jemand auf deutsch antworten (oder habe ich deutsche Foren nur nicht gefunden?)

Nach Update kann ich jetzt die raw-Daten der Sony a7III in photoshop cc, bridge CC und lightroom classic CC öffnen. In letzter Zeit habe ich lightroom cc (2015) genutzt, das nach crative cloud updater auch akutell ist, aber damit kann ich die RAW der Sony a7III nicht bearbeiten, warum nicht?

Ich dachte das sei die aktuellere Version der Lightroom-software?

Außerdem finde ich es sehr ärgerlich, das habe ich auch schon an Sony geschrieben, dass die Kameradaten nicht bei Erscheinen schon in Adobe lesbar sind, das erwarte ich bei einer so teuren Kamera und pay-Software anders!. Da können Adobe und Sony ja wohl im Vorfeld der Markteinführung zusammenarbeiten.

Viele Grüße

Lothar Wulff

[JohanElzenga]

Ich versuche es: Lightroom Classic (7.3) ist die aktuellere Version, nicht Lightroom CC2015.14.

[ssprengel]

You can subscribe to the latest Lightroom Classic CC 7.3 version, here:

Adobe Creative Cloud Photography plan | Professional photo editing software

Alternatively, you can use the free DNG Converter 10.3 from here:

Adobe software and product updates

--

Regarding your annoyance, new cameras have slight differences in sensor or sensor-data processing for each new model, so Adobe creates camera profiles for each new camera, and Adobe needs a production camera to profile, because things usually change, slightly, from pre-production to production.

[ben2e]

I'm on Lightroom 5.7, what are my options that don't involve a subscription ? I'm certainly no pro, just liked Lightroom. Perhaps I should try Elements but worried my entire catalog of edits would be lost.

[JP Hess]

You can use the latest standalone DNG converter to convert your raw images to the DNG format, and then import those files into Lightroom 5.7.

[Ed Rzewnicki]

I got the A7iii, and I have the Latest and greatest LRCC version 7.3.1 and my iMac is at 10.13.1 So both are to the latest software that Im aware of. I went out to a Sony promotion to play with some of the new lenses and shoot their scenes. My RAW files are absolutely AWFUL!!! There is so much noise in these images, you would swear i was shooting with an ancient camera. Yes the noise reduction cleaned it up. But for comparison, I downloaded Sony's RAW Converter and the image were almost clean. Seems the Camera profile is way off on this UpDate. Will there be improvements?

And to the person that said that Sony doesn't pre-release their cameras, Yes they do. There have been teaser videos from Sony's ambassadors for at least a month before the release. I would think Adobe would rate high enough to get one pre-release.

[Just Shoot Me]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Ed+Rzewnicki  wrote

I got the A7iii, and I have the Latest and greatest LRCC version 7.3.1 and my iMac is at 10.13.1 So both are to the latest software that Im aware of. I went out to a Sony promotion to play with some of the new lenses and shoot their scenes. My RAW files are absolutely AWFUL!!! There is so much noise in these images, you would swear i was shooting with an ancient camera. Yes the noise reduction cleaned it up. But for comparison, I downloaded Sony's RAW Converter and the image were almost clean. Seems the Camera profile is way off on this UpDate. Will there be improvements?

And to the person that said that Sony doesn't pre-release their cameras, Yes they do. There have been teaser videos from Sony's ambassadors for at least a month before the release. I would think Adobe would rate high enough to get one pre-release.

To my knowledge no LR camera profile will add noise or cause noise to show unless it is already in the RAW Data.

I have downloaded several Sony A7III RAW image files for testing and never saw any added noise.

I just opened the catalog that contains those Sony images and the Default noise reduction is Color 25 Luminance 0 (Zero).

I don't see much noise is moderate ISO shots (ISO 640-1600 but above that noise is very apparent.

Could be the Sony RAW program is reducing the noise by default.

[Jao vdL]

Shoot me. In other threads we have determined that the camera matching profiles are bad for this specific camera. They horribly mess with noisy areas and posterize in a way that appears to add really ugly pattern noise. Adobe profiles are fine but the camera matching ones are bad. I was highly skeptical also but you can see this with any A7 iii raw file shot at high ISO that has bokeh areas. These areas look fine in Adobe Standard but are horrible in camera standard. it’s the camera matching profiles that are a problem!

[Just Shoot Me]

Thanks Jao.

I hadn't looked at the Camera Matching profiles.

[Jao vdL]

I wouldn't have either if it hadn't been pointed out: Re: Sony A7 III - Camera RAW [branched] and Re: Weird artifacts on Sony A7 iii Profile Camera Portrait​

P.S. anybody that says this camera is exceptionally noise free is not really paying attention. It's quite good but it can't break the laws of physics. You can clearly see this in the raw data.

And to the person that said that Sony doesn't pre-release their cameras, Yes they do. There have been teaser videos from Sony's ambassadors for at least a month before the release. I would think Adobe would rate high enough to get one pre-release.

Adobe gets prerelease cameras from many manufacturers including Sony. A month is not enough to fully profile the new camera and get the support into an interim release. Here is some data on how long it takes for new cameras to be supported and the timing of Lightroom releases (about once every two months): Re: Timing of Lightroom releases  You can clearly see that Sony cameras are supported quite quick compared to others.

[richarde30540414]

This stinks!

I'm running Windows 7 Professional and Lightroom 6.14 [1149743] - not CC.

The raw files from either my Sony a6500 or Sony a7m3 are NOT readable by Adobe DNG converter version 9.9.0.718.

Sony Data Image Converter version 5.1.00.04270 only converts to either jpeg or tiff.

I haven't tried ExifTool yet.  The referred to batch file no longer exists on Microsoft's page.  Unless someone can point me to another source for it, I'll have to try and write my own.  It's been a LONG time since I wrote a DOS batch file.

[JP Hess]

The DNG converter you are using is too old. The simple solution is to download the latest version. Here is the link:

Adobe - Adobe Camera Raw and DNG Converter : For Windows : Adobe DNG Converter 10.5 : Thank You

[richarde30540414]

I just installed this yesterday and re-installed it today.

The difference is, today, it works.

Thanks for your assistance,