Exactly. The power of RAW gives you full creative power. The in-camera processing is meant for jpeg. When you shoot RAW, what you see on the back of the camera is mainly a good judgment of what the outcome can look like. In jpeg, what you see is what you get, and you can make some adjustments.
You can create your own Picture Style that will better represent the RAW file. It isn't the defacto outcome, but it can help in understanding that you are in control if the image, and not the camera. I believe the histogram is a representation of the jpeg, but it can still help in seeing that you are not clipping the shadows or highlights.
If you want quick results, you can create develop presets that give that pre-processed look. But even then, you should mess around in LR to get the image you want. When I am shooting for my own fine art photography, all I am concerned about is getting a proper exposure. I apply no develop presets. But when I am shooting for editorial, I have presets that get a good overall image, and do WB and exposure myself and crop.
If you do shoot jpeg, those in-camera settings will be visable, but because of jpeg you will not have full control. Now I know LR, did recently add 5D III, so it may not be perfect, but you should be able to still get a great image.
The main thing is to not fully trust that the RAW file will look exactly like what you see on the back of the camera, but you can make it look that, and in RAW, can make it look like you want. RAW has a greater dynamic range so highlights and shadows can be corrected even though they may seem clipped. That does depend on the image and it's exposure, but you learn to know how your camera works.
I have worked very extensively in LR3, and LR4 is far greater. Of course, Adobe keeps updating it's software to better take advantage of new cameras. So the 5D III, may not be perfect yet in LR4, but I doubt the human eye can notice any flaws. If you do have LR4, or just tyring out the trial, keep on messing around. I would be willing to bet that once you figure it out, you will love LR.
I do teach private lesson, and have worked with pros on LR, but I truly believe that a proper understanding of RAW and LR will give you great results. Now only if Adobe and Canon would pay me for this thoughts
