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In photography, 200mm is the focal length of the lens. f/X is the focal ratio, with X being some number/ So a 600mm f/4 lens means it's got a 600mm focal length and 600/4 = 150mm aperture diameter. The reason for this is that camera lenses have an "iris" that reduces the aperture; that blocks some light but increases the depth of field. This means that unlike a telescope a camera lens's aperture can vary, so it doesn't make much sense to specify the absolute aperture for most situations.

It's also because the focal ratio tends to be a more accurate way to estimate how bright an image will be than the absolute aperture. A 35mm f/4 lens will take an image with just about the same brightness (LV) as a 600mm f/4 lens, even though the 35mm f/4 is only 8.75mm in diameter compared to the 150mm diameter of the 600mm f/4. The shorter focal length means light gets gathered onto the sensor from a wider angle, which exactly compensates for the decreased diameter. Since photographers typically can't take hours-long exposures (or stack hundreds of photos to get the same effect) the way astronomers can, this system works better for photography.



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