The same thing happens today as happened in the past... regardless of improvements in our cameras. It's still generally best to avoid under exposure, since push it back up in post-processing will usually increase image noise. Conversely, digital images are usually more tolerant of over-exposure than of under. So long as it's not too extreme, it's possible to recover slight over exposure without any loss of image quality or increase in noise. So the whole idea behind ETTR remains the same.... it's better to err toward the "safer" exposure.

Look at your own images...

Do you rarely or never need to increase exposure in post-processing? If so, you don't need to use ETTR.

Or, do you find nearly all of them need some increase of exposure in post? If so, then you'd be wise to use ETTR to help reduce that.

Of course, the "ideal" would be to nail correct exposure every time. But how many of us actually do that with every single image.

My older cameras, that I used for about five years, I knew well and kept set with +1/3 stop ETTR any time I was shooting with any auto exposure mode. In certain situations I'd set +2/3 stop.

Using newer camera this year, I still use +1/3 most of the time and find that works well. I more rarely use +2/3 now. This is just a difference in these particular cameras... other brands and models are likely to be a little different. Plus there are differences in users, their expectations and what they want to see in their images.

+1/3 ETTR is my "base" setting. I also dial in more or less exposure compensation as needed for different subjects and scenes. And I try to keep an eye on my histogram, making slight adjustments on the fly, if and when needed.

Before I ever heard of ETTR I already knew better than to blow the highlights.

Since I already knew that my cameras could get noisy above ISO 800, I also avoided ISO 1600 and above. Nevertheless, I still have to look very close to find noise in higher ISO images from a D610 or A7 II.

The third thing I knew was that, if there was going to be any noise, it would occur in the darkest portions of the image. But the darkest portions are seldom the important parts of my images and the easiest to fix.

I and most other serious photographers already know how to minimize noise and maximize DR. All ETTR/EBTR provides us with is a means to work around a really unusual circumstance like the one described by TriX which I already addressed.

Only then would you actually need to use everything the sensor gives you. You will be trying to fit the exposure into whatever DR the sensor is leaving you with.

Once you have the minimum shutter speed and aperture selected, the only option for moving the histogram to the right is to increase the ISO. Since the actual physical exposure to the sensor remains the same, there will be no increase in noise. However, the DR will actually go down as the ISO goes up.

You cannot proceed as Dave has described and select the ISO first and then lower the shutter speed. That's the fallacy in his approach. If you have the option to lower the shutter speed you also have the option to lower the ISO and actually increase the available DR.

Scotty this is interesting and makes one think but is this a rehash of a post from your past? I seem to remember reading almost the same thing a year or two ago. I don't mind reading it again as it's always good to not blow out the heads on my Eagle and Osprey shots. I find that if I use ETTR without over doing it I can reduce the brightness or white of the image in PP without introducing noise. I can only slow down or reduce the shutter speed or ISO so far as I'm shooting BIF, it's a thin line.