EF lens on crop body question..

[mrm83]

If i use a EF 50mm lens on a 1.6 crop body.. does it make it 80mm??

I was told by a friend that it does, then I came across this..
Full Frame vs 1.6 crop on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Big Mike]

It doesn't 'make it an 80mm'...the camera will have a field of view that is equivalent to an 80mm lens used on a 35mm (film) camera (or Full Frame digital SLR).

So as that Flickr link points out...the image is cropped, not zoomed in.

 

[inTempus]

This is a very simple concept, but often misunderstood.

The 1.6 crop sensor in most Canon bodies is physically smaller than a "standard" 35mm format full frame sensor. The lens will cast the same size image circle, however the 35mm format will capture more of the image whereas the 1.6 sensor will capture a fraction of what the 35mm captures. This gives the impression that your magnifying the view, but you're not. You're just seeing less of it.

Here's an illustration that might help you to understand what's happening.