Today’s Question: I currently use the older Lightroom standalone version 6.14. I’m thinking of purchasing a Sony Alpha 1 camera and I want to continue shooting in raw. How can I import these files into Lightroom without upgrading to the subscription version of Lightroom Classic?
Tim’s Quick Answer: To import raw captures that aren’t supported by your version of Lightroom (including newer updates to Lightroom Classic) you can convert the captures to the Adobe DNG format using the free Adobe DNG Converter.
More Detail: Even if you’re using the latest version of Lightroom Classic, with a newer camera you may run into a situation where the updated raw capture format is not yet supported by Lightroom Classic. This is obviously especially true for those who have not purchased a subscription for Lightroom Classic and are therefore no longer receiving software updates.
The Adobe DNG Converter is often updated to support new raw capture formats more quickly than Lightroom Classic. This provides an option for working with your raw captures before they are supported by your software.
My personal preference is to retain the original raw captures as they came from the camera. Therefore, I prefer to treat the Adobe DNG Converter as a temporary solution while waiting for software to be updated to support the latest raw capture formats. However, for those who have decided to use the non-subscription version of Lightroom for as long as possible, the Adobe DNG Converter does provide a way to work with raw capture formats that will not be supported unless you subscribe to Lightroom Classic or switch to other software.
You can get more info and download the free Adobe DNG Converter on the Adobe website here:
https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/digital-negative.html#downloads
