My point is that there isn't an easy way. You have to play with the exposure, brightness, contrast and shadow sliders until you get what you want.
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Actually, it isn't all that hard, nor need it be very time-consuming at all, if the work-flow is designed logically and efficiently.
First I agree there is no loss of data unless an ETTR is clipped. Second, apparent over-exposure or apparent loss of saturation is easily compensated in PS because the information is there. Third, images with desirable data in the quartertones can become posterized without ETTR because there is not enough information to provide smooth tonal transitions so far to the left on the histogram. This is well explained in Michael's tutorial on the subject and verified from experience. It's correct most of the time.
ETTR exposures can look like crap in ACR, but I find the adjustments are usually quite straight-forward for a wide variety of images:
(1) If there is a bit of clipping, use Exposure to rescue some tonality, unless it is specular highlights which are often best left ignored;
(2) Use the linear version of Curves in ACR to bring out contrast by dragging the upper and lower end points of the curve to their corresponding end points of the histogram without clipping anything.
(3) If need be, go back to Adjust and tweak the brightness slider to improve the mid-tones.
(4) Check for CA, etc., then convert.
(5) If saturation still needs a boost, fix it in PS with an HSB Adjustment Layer or a Selective Color Adjustment Layer. The effect can be limited to a certain colour range, or using a layer mask limited to certain parts of the image.
Another way of improving the vibrancy of really flat images is before doing anything else, convert them to Lab and steepen the A and B curves insuring that they always pass through the center point of the matrix. But do it carefully - these are highly leveraged adjustments. The optimal way of doing this is to duplicate the background layer, add a Curves Adjustment layer with clipping path linked to the duplicated layer, adjust A and B, merge the two layers, then re-convert to RGB without flattening. This way you can adjust the strength of the new "Lab layer" in RGB mode by altering its opacity to taste. The reason for this procedure is that Adjustment Layers cannot survive mode changes between colour working spaces.