The In-Camera settings really only apply to Jpegs, I would recommend using RAW as it will give you the chance to retrieve things if you mess up slightly, then their is always the problem of black and white birds which are difficult to expose for, shooting RAW helps adjust the levels later to improve the images.
When opening an image in DPP the sliders will be preset at whatever settings you had in the camera, but you will be able to change them all, boosting shadows, cutting back on highlights, adjusting exposure errors and white balance as well, definitely the way to go.
