One of the main stumbling points for new photographers is the seemingly random series of numbers that we have come to know as the f-stop scale or aperture scale. Things start out innocently enough f/1, f/1.4 (just add 0.4 every time, right?), but things get ugly quickly — f/2, f/2.8, f/4. Why would anyone invent such an arbitrary scale?<br />
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To answer, we must go back to the second century BC.