Importing Sony ARW raw files into Lightroom

[Guest]

I recently bought a Sony mirrorless camera which uses an ARW raw file extension.  I am still using LR 4.4 and it does not recognize this file type in the preview window.  Is there an update or driver that I can get so that my version of LR will open these?

[Just Shoot Me]

You will need to either upgrade to LR 6 of the CC Photographers plan or use the free Adobe DNG converter program to convert the arw files to dng files to import them into LR 4.4.

[JP Hess]

Here is a list of all the cameras supported by Camera Raw and Lightroom. The list indicates the minimum version of Lightroom required to support each camera. There are no updates to Lightroom 4.4 that will provide support for newer cameras. Your choice will be to either upgrade or download and use the  free DNG converter to create DNG copies of your raw files.

Cameras supported by Camera Raw

[DdeGannes]

Additional info from what has been already supplied by "Just Shoot Me" and "JimHess", Lightroom 4.4 was released by Adobe on February 25th 2013. (Four years ago.) This is the last update to Lightroom 4.

Adobe cannot begin to create profiles to support new camera models until the Camera Model has been released into the market.

Adobe usually updates the latest version on a quarterly basis. The latest version is Lightroom CC 2015.9 / 6.9. released on March 7, 2017.

[Guest]

Thanks to everyone who responded.  I tried converting to DNG, but LR 4.4 still could not open the files.  It looks like my only option is to upgrade to CC which is not what I would like to do at this time.  Any other possibilities besides getting CC?

[John Waller]

charlesg26894886  wrote

I tried converting to DNG, but LR 4.4 still could not open the files.

Can you explain your workflow further? There should be no issue opening DNG files in 4.4 after conversion to DNG.

Which exact Sony camera model are you using? They all use the ARW Raw file extension but that format is unique to each model.