So what is an F-stop in photography and pasta in garlic oil with zuchini

This seems to be a simple question but always seems to stump people. The F stop is only part of a combination that invocles shutter speed, film speed and the F stop or appeture opening in the lenses to acheive that perfect exposure. I found a answer to the question that seems to be pretty simple that I thought I would share as I have been asked this a few times.

This is part of the explaination from http://prophotoman.tripod.com/fstop.html

"F," I learned, could actually mean "fraction". The "4" in "f4" actually stood for 1/4. The diameter of the aperature at f4 would be 1/4th the focal length of the lens. A 50mm lens set to f4 would have an aperature diameter of 12.5mm (50mm X 1/4). A 1000 lens set at F22 would have an aperature diameter of 45mm (1000mm X 1/22). So with this information, you could derive the formula: F-Stop = A/FL; where A is the diameter of the aperature, FL is the focal length of the lens, and F-stop is expressed in it's fraction form.


For dinner today I had a new recipe that some freinds sent from Reader Digest by Micheal Ch. for pasta wiht zuchini and garlic sauce. The recipe was good though I think I will change it some the next time I make it.
saute 1 tbs of minced garlic in 1/4 cup of oil while cooking around 3/4lb pasta. When garlic is slightly browned add 1/2 tsp red pepper, 3 tbls fresh basil and 2 of parsley freshly chopped and then remove from heat. thinly juilliane the zuchini. Place cooked pasta in serving dish (reserving about 1/2c of the cooking water), Toss with zuchini and oil. Add 1/2 c parmissian cheese, 1/4 c olive oil (I omited the additional oil) and enough cooking water to form sauce. Salt and pepper to taste

My wife found it a bit spicy, but I did about 1 tsp of the red pepper.

I think I would reduce the red pepper a bit, and maybe add some pancetta that had been crisped when servings. Also sprinkle with some parsley. Served with garlic bread it is excellent.

This was a nice light and refreshing meal. Some brocolli florettes would also be really good in this.