Matt. K wrote:I'm no lens expert...my understanding, unless someone shoots me down with some facts, is that a lens of f/0 allows the same amount of light throught the glass as there is in the original scene. A lens of F1 allows half the amount of light throught. The other half is lost as it passes through the glass. As you add more optical elements...or focal length, then more light is lost. Is that everyone elses understanding?
The aperture (or more correctly, the relative aperture) of a lens is a measure of its light gathering ability, and the f number used to describe it is the ratio of the diameter to the focal length. So, for example, a 100mm f2.0 lens has an objective diameter (which is effectively the maximum aperture) of 50mm. Nowhere near half the light is absorbed or reflected by the glass elements - only a few percent in total, with
modern coatings.
An f0 lens, as you can see from the above, would have an infinite diameter, which is one reason why they're not too common
Cheers