I am looking at DXO PL 9 to replace my Lightroom Classic subscription and I have just downloaded the trial version. I have been using LRC for many years and I have a lot of edited photos. My LRC catalogue is configured to save all edits to sidecar files and I have checked that the sidecar (.xml) files are there.
When I look at these images in PL9, none of my LR edits are showing. If I try to import the sidecar file I get a message saying “Sidecars Imported - No sidecar file loaded”
This happens for older edits as well (i.e. ones that do not use the LR .acr sidecar files)
How do I get my Lightroom edits to come across to PL9? If I can’t do this then this is going to be a non-starter for me!
I think you need to export as TIFF or JPG from LR, then you can see your earlier edits in PL.
If you are moving from LR to PL (I did!), then it may well be that there are only a few current images that you have started working on in LR and want to continue working on in PL. For these, you could just always start from scratch in PL. I found I got much better results, more easily, that way.
If it is an absolute requirement to transparently migrate all your Lightroom edits to PhotoLab so you can continue to edit your raw files in the same state they were in when editing them in Lightroom, that is not possible. I am sorry to say that PhotoLab would be a non-starter for you.
If you cancel your Adobe subscription, Lightroom Classic’s Library module will continue to be fully functional. You can even still export photos.
So, leave Lightroom installed and use it as a reference location for your old photos, then process new ones in PhotoLab. If you want to re-do an edit in PhotoLab that was originally done in Lightroom, you can preview it in Lightroom without the need to export it.