Maximum Magnification - different for EF lenses on crop bodies?

[neuroanatomist]

What I don't understand, though, is if you want a wider framed image with more DOF and less diffraction (like you would have with the FF camera), can you not achieve the same thing with the crop camera?

Sure, albeit with lower magnification (or by using a different lens, e.g the 60mm vs. the 100mm macro).

Those are four very nice pics, by the way. Is the first one a watermelon?

Thanks! Actually, the first one isn't even macro [:$], but it illustrates the point of freedom of framing (and in this case, scale, too!). Actually, it's the 'wake' left by a duck swimming across a duckweed-covered marsh, shot with the 24-105mm.