I ran two tests to address some misconceptions about ETTR.
The first test was last night just after 6PM. I used an A7 II that is converted to monochrome. RawDigger displays only a luminance histogram because there are no color channels.
1/5000s @ f/8 ISO 400
1/4000s @ f/8 ISO 400
The first image has about 187k raw values blown out. Since the sun was too close to the frame I aimed a little more to the left and was able to increase the exposure from 1/5000s to 1/4000s. The second exposure had only 2k raw values blown out.
The Zebra stripes make it easy to maximize the exposure without blowing many raw highlights.
The image covers a 10 stop range so the result SOOC looks very dark:
Nevertheless, the shadows can be brightened to produce an acceptable image:
This example proves that the notion that an image exposed using ETTR will always look blown out.
For the second test I used a Df at around 9:26AM.
1/1600s @ f/8 ISO 400 (Sunny 16, also the exposure recommended by matrix metering) - no blown raw highlights
I was seeing no highlight warnings so I increased the exposure by one stop:
1/800s @ f/8 ISO 400 - about 1100 blown raw highlights, not enough to matter
After processing both images and converting them to B&W I ended up with:
Sunny 16/Matrix metering exposure
One stop brighter
Development consisted a little shadow recovery and B&W conversion removing some the blue and cyan. I could not remove more because the shady side of the building was lit by only the blue skylight.
What this test shows is that a one stop increase in exposure does not produce a visible improvement in the final image. It also shows that Sunny 16 and matrix metering are safe and sufficient for daylight images. And finally, it shows that the JPEG SOOC for the ETTR image, although just past the raw limit, does not look washed out:
JPEG SOOC