Lightroom metadata question (F-stop vs Aperture labels)

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KurtH

KurtH

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A quick question for the Lightroom users out there. While changing my displayed fields in the library module under Metadata, I noticed that there seems to be a labeling choice that I don’t quite understand. Simply put, we have the choice of displaying F-Stop and/or Aperture in two distinct and separate fields. While I've always considered these two items basically the same (i.e., f-stop setting is how we control the actual aperture) as far as functional photography, I now feel that I may be missing the point somewhere.

Would the information in these two fields ever be different from each? If not, why have them both? And if so, where/why do they diverge?

Since both fields use/display the same info (f/?), is this just Adobe's effort to give us a choice of what "label" we want to apply to essentially the same data? Or is there truly a difference between these two fields and there may be a divergence at some point?

My over-simplified guess at an explanation is that some cameras allow the user to set the camera at an f-stop that the lens cannot perform, in which case these two fields may be different (f-stop setting vs the actual aperture). Or maybe for manual lens when the camera f-stop setting doesn't change the physical aperture ring on the lens (I've never had a fully manual lens). Just an uneducated guess.

Adobe also has separate fields for Exposure Time and Shutter Speed, which makes me think it's just a choice of a label vs. different displayed data...but thought I'd ask those with more experience.

And FYI, I also searched other sources along with Adobe forums but didn’t find anything. I did post to Adobe’s forum as well.

Thanks for any insight! Kurt
 
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Agreed, for instance Nikon refers to Shutter Priority where Canon refers to Time Value or TV mode.

Question for the OP, do you have you used two or more different camera brands in your LR library? If so, it's likely that metadata filtering on one version (e.g. Aperture) will show only images from one of those camera types and filtering on the other will show only images from the other brand/model of camera.
 
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DRwyoming said:
Question for the OP, do you have you used two or more different camera brands in your LR library?
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Unfortunately not, but different camera brands reporting different data fields would make sense. I'll have to hunt someone down with one of the other brands to see what fields they're reporting.

DRwyoming said:
it's likely that metadata filtering on one version (e.g. Aperture) will show only images from one of those camera types and filtering on the other will show only images from the other brand/model of camera.
Click to expand...
I'm getting data in both fields, Aperture/F-stop as well as with Exposure Time/Shutter Speed. So that filter would show Nikon images on both filters. Good idea though :)

Posting the field list for "Camera Info" as a reference.
Untitled-11.jpg
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What info does aperture have vs. F stop? Technically aperture would be the physical size of the opening while f stop is a ratio, but do they both have the same info? If they are I guess they are treating them as synonyms. If so pick one and unclick the other.
 
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