My take has been that if it gets to half life-size on film/sensor,
it's macro. More magnification than this falls within the entire macro
definition until, maybe 10X, then it really enters the world of micro.
Except for Dean, I don't think any of us are really equipped to go
beyond 4X with any expectation of success. I pick out Dean, because,
he single-handedly has cornered the entire world supply of Olympus
macro gear. If the global center of gravity was based on the number of
Olympus macro lenses, extension tubes and flash gear, there would be
this giant crunching sound as the entire world collapses to this black
hole in eastern Minnesota.
With crop-sensor cameras, we can be tempted to fudge the macro
definition a little bit from the 1:1 standard that was forced upon us
in the film world. 1:1 "35mm equivalency" means 1:2 in 4/3. However, I
am EXTREMELY uncomfortable with this because it breaks the standard
definition of image magnification that is uniform and applicable from
process cameras all the way down to endoscopes. We can't cheat this.
If you want to say that we can use 1:2 magnification to get the same
Angle of View as on 35mm film, then that's fine. But to say that 1:2
is the same as 1:1 just because the format is different is wrong. 1:1
is 1:1 regardless of sensor or film size. It means that a bug that is
5mm long will be projected onto the sensor or film exactly 5mm in
length.
One reason why I am very picky about this is because it is more than
just magnification. It's DoF, it's working distance, it's lighting,
it's a bunch of things. Just playing the equivalency game is fine if
you want bragging rights or if you are interested in the Angle of View
in the resulting image, but it is not fine if you are interested in
the other things. One thing that has to be FIRM and CANNOT be gamed,
is the definition of what 1:1 means. This isn't an emotional thing,
it's a scientific thing. There is more than aesthetics involved.
AG (life size) Schnozz
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