But to answer the OP's question we do not need to obscure it by discussing how every single mode in every single camera works! Just explaining how EC works is the answer. We both did that.

This is a topic where honing your skills with experiments without first getting at least some education may be nearly worthless. An informal discussion such as exists here on UHH is perhaps sufficient for most photographers. But really serious photography my require a degree in meteorology to know how to predict or interpret actual confitions.

Reading threads like this one before going out to experiment is essential.

All this discussion about what different modes do is useless distraction.

What BebuLamar said is the short essence of my initial post. That nails it.

It depends on the mode.

All that EC does is bias the lightmeter output by the amount dialed in. If the camera is set to automatically change the shutter speed, then that is what is changed.
Note that if the lightmeter does not change anything then EC will not affect anything.

Don't use a ZipLoc. It does "work", but a kitchen size plastic trash bag is better in every way.

Sharp artifacts are better than real image data? Hmmmmm...

Do you know the difference between normal image data and a very crisp looking aliased artifact that should not be there?

It is visible on an artificially contrived test, but not on normal average images.

It should! Looks like a normal little kid. I.e., nothing at all like Kavenaugh.

The AA filter removes artifacts from above the Nyquist frequency that otherwise end up adding noise below the Nyquist frequency. Those artifacts hurt definition and resolution.

Why would anyone want to remove the anti aliasing filter that prevents hurting definition and resolution, in particular when the AA filter causes no harm itself! The AA filter targets frequencies that are above the Nyquist limit for sampling.

Please explain why not? What problem do you imagine exists?

Don't use ZipLoc bags! Use kitchen size plastic trash bags. It is easy to squeeze out all the air and allow faster temperature change.

Keep the bagged equipment in the warmest place possible. That may be the trunk. It will probably warm up to ambient air temperature very quickly compaired to equipment stored in an air conditioned part of a vehicle.

Actually Leica plays third fiddle to Canon and Nikon. All three companies know the significance of not following market direction. Nikon has always been the most engineer oriented, and yet they turned on a dime to maintain market share.

Exactly!

People keep claiming it actually is an Optical Low Pass Filter (OLPF) just one that is disabled. If it is diabled it is NOT a filter at all. It is a stack of the same glass that is oriented such that it is not an OLPF.

Exactly as you you say, it is an optical path extender that allows the same production line to use the same parts to assemble two very different cameras.

I bought a D800 with the AA filter.

I did that because I have been working with AA filters, sampling, and measuring the distortion in the telecom industry since the early 1970s. I knew positively which camera would produce the sharpest images, and I knew precisely why.

I also knew precisely how to sharpen images by inspection.

The D800, with an AA filter, was clearly the best choice, regardless of marketing hype.

Absolutely true!

There is also good evidence that Nikon's engineers are aware of that, and the decision to produce so many models without the AA filter is strictly a marketing decision.

Remember when the D800 and D800E were first announced, and the production numbers for the D800 were to be in the tens of thousands while the D800E numbers were miniscule? That is what engineering assumed would be the much lower demand for the technically less able D800E that did not have an AA filter. But to their astonishment customers did not understand, and the high demand was for the D800E.

Customers read how the AA filter blurred the image! That was all they understood, and they didn't want the filter.

Corporate Nikon sells cameras. They shifted immediately to what customers wanted. The non-AA cameras are "better" in that the demand is higher.

And of course here we are years later with millions of web reviews and technical reports touting the advantages of no AA filter. Yet in theory, as studied by every engineer, and demonstrated by testing on every sampling system of any kind, the AA filter is better!