Macro, what is it and what does it mean.

[Sushigaijin]

Loupey,

Your photos clearly show higher magnification on the 50d than the 5d. All other things equal, the 5d's scrimshaw shows the top and sides, while the 50d is so close that it is just the ship.

I understand that the actual projection on the image plane is still 1:1. The projection doesn't matter. Only the photo. So maybe this should be a discussion about apparent magnification, just like our 35mm equivalent comparisons that we make with crop sensors (100mm on an aps is apparently 150mm, etc.)

A 15mp aps sensor will give you a closer look than a 15mp full frame sensor, with the lens set to closest focus distance.

The problem here is that we are talking about like and dislike dimensions. If the 5d has 15mp (arbitrary), and the 50d has 15 mp, they both have the same size film. Now if the 50d's pixels are smaller, how can we possibly compare these two? The output area is the same, but the input area is very different. So two files, same dimensions, but different sensor dimensions...the smaller sensor will show more apparent magnification because it is a crop of the larger sensor. So in practical terms, a crop sensor will put more pixels on a smaller area and output to the same size as a full frame sensor. Also from a practical standpoint, a crop sensor gives you a photo with higher magnification (all other things being equal.)