Monday, 24 April 2017

lens - Does a camera's crop factor apply to the magnification of macro shots?


If I have a lenses (or in my case extension tubes) that would allow the lens to magnify 1:1, does a 1.5x crop factor body make it really 1.5:1 ?



Answer



I'll just take this out into an actual answer, and the answer is 'NO', the crop factor doesn't make it a 1.5:1 ratio. What it does change is the ratio of information per pixel which would be an valid new designation.


Why? Because the 1:1 ratio is a designation of how large the lens renders subjects on the focal plane whatever that plane is, it is an optical designation. A 2cm square subject will be rendered as 2cm squared on either a FF sensor or a 1.5x crop sensor. To suggest otherwise takes any meaning away from the designation since every body you put it on would effectively give it a different meaning. A 1:1 ratio is still a 1:1 ratio on a 10D at 6MP or a 5DmkII at 22MP or a 1.5x crop body at 18MP.



It'd be like saying with film, if a different film emulsion had better resolving power it'd changed the magnification power of the lens, or that printing it on a larger print did.


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