mmm help me understand. i got a 17mm m4/3. but it is still 34mm equivalent. If the 2x crop can be considered FF format in its own league, then can the 1.6x crop also be considered FF format in its own 1.6x crop league?
The 1.6x and 1.5x are crops because the sensors they used were designed much smaller instead of the size for which the lenses were designed.
Zuiko Digital lenses and the sensors in the camera were designed for the Four-Thirds system, not for 135 format. There is no crop factor, even though the 135 format equivalent size is different.
By conventional belief, you should say that medium format sensors are greater than full format because they're larger than 24x36mm. Therefore, they'd have a negative crop factor the way most people believe. A wide angle lens for medium format would suddenly be a slight telephoto on a supposed full format camera.