Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/07/27

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Subject: Re: [Leica] another dumb question
From: Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 10:54:35 -0700
 
"Noel H. Charchuk" wrote:
> Alex asked:
> What does the 'f' in f-stop stand for?
><snip> 
> According to the Ilford Manual of Photography, relative aperture is the
> relationship of the focal length of the lens divided by the diameter of
> the effective aperture. N=f/d. "The numerical value of relative aperture
> is usually prefixed by the letter f and an oblique stroke, eg f/8. The
> letter f and the stroke serve as a reminder of the relation between
> relative aperture, effective aperture and focal length. The relative
> aperture of a lens is commonly referred to as its f-number"
><snip>

In other words: you don't know!
Mark :-) Rabiner