How to open your A7RV RAW files

Ever since i've released my A7RV article and A7RV focus stacking video I've been getting the same question over and over again: 'How do you open your RAW files in Lightroom' ? Yes, the A7RV is not out in the US yet, but many of us Europeans already have it. But you can't open your files because there's no RAW converter out yet. However, there IS a way to open the files.

The A7RV sensor is the same as the A7RIV. So when I received this camera a few months before it's release, I had the same problem as you: I couldn't open my files, or so I thought. I've tested unreleased cameras before with similar sensors than its predecessors and I remembered a trick: You can actually rename the EXIF data of the files to make software think its an older camera. This only works when the sensor is the same.

this is how to do it (on MAC, should be similar on PC):

- Download and install exiftool

- Open Terminal. You'll find it in Applications -> Utilities

- Now use the following command:

exiftool -sonymodelid="ILCE-7RM4" -ext ARW -r DIRECTORY

DIRECTORY is the place where your files are located. basically you can type just 'exiftool -sonymodelid="ILCE-7RM4" -ext ARW -r' and then drag the folder from finder in the Terminal window, and the directory path will then be added to your command line. That's the easiest way.

- This will convert all EXIF data from the files in that directory (and subdirectories). You will get new files, and the old files will stay there as well. They'll be called _original, just incase you will need them in the future. The new files are simply the same files, but with exif data renamed. You can now load these files in your favourite image editing app!

Hope that helps and enjoy your A7RV!

Albert