Files recorded using the Pixel Shift mode in the Sony a7R lll can now be opened in Lightroom Classic CC after the latest update released on April 8th, although 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.
Note: 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 we’d still recommend 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.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)