Wouldn't that number depend on the focal length AND aperture of the lens, rather than just the aperture? It seems to me that it's the area of the aperture rather than the f stop, that will determine how many photons will pass through it in a given length of exposure, no? And that in any case, the numbers of photons involved may well reach into the billions/trillions/who knows?
Something that I personally cannot understand wrt diffraction, is that surely (given the extremely small size of those photon wavelengths) the actual percentage of photons that _strike_ the edge of the diaphragm blades (out of the total number that pass during the exposure time) must be quite tiny, and not significant in proportion to all the other image-forming light rays that flow through the "open" area of the aperture. Even at small apertures, relative to the size of a photon's path, that is one HUGE hole.
I know there is some obvious explanation to this, but I haven't figured it out yet. Having said which, I still don't use f45 to f280, even though they're available...... I know very well that diffraction occurs, of course.
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