tfttf149 – Apercadabra!

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f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16… dizzy yet? Find out on today’s show what those aperture numbers (aka “f-stops”) actually mean and why they seem to go backwards. Also on today’s show: Introducing Happy Shooting, the new German photo podcast, and a new assignment!



“High Voltage!” (click image for larger version)


Show support: Kavey, Rebecca Davies, & Ravsitar

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Links from today’s show:

  • There’s a new episode over at my other podcast Up to the Top Floor (the podcast where you can come along as I build my own media production business)
  • If you speak German, check out the new weekly photograhpy podcast Happy Shooting, presented by Boris (of nSonic fame) and yours truly.


  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefflim/ Jeff Lim

    if each stop is supposed to double/half the area, shouldn’t the number refer to the *radius* of the aperture instead? cos if it were the diameter, you need to multiply by a factor of 2*(square root of 2) in order to double the area for each stop… ie. you should have the sequence f/1, f/2.8, f/8, f/22 instead… Correct me if I’m wrong here.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/jefflim/ Jeff Lim

    WHOOPS!!! hey sorry about that – I just realized that yeah, the same thing (factor) can work for the diameter as well… My bad!!!

  • http://achillies875.deviantart.com Tommy

    :D I learned f/ on my own from descrete hints on this show. I’m proud of myself for that.

    On another note though, I love the photo for the assignment Chris! Great job.