F Stop question

[Baz Fatania]

Hi I'm playing around with my new canon 550d and reading in magazine it says to select a wide aperture of F/3.5 - i can't seem to get that wide on my camera. I have a canon 550d with the std kit lense 18-55 .....I am going through the manuals as well but am trying to play around during the day with the camera too to see how to get blurred background with sharp foreground.
Am I right in thinking that the F/n are dependant on the lens fitted?
greatful for any advice.
Thanks

[Cathus]

yes, the aperture is a feature of the lens, not the camera.

Not sure about your lens but I just had a look at some bundles of your camera & 18-55 & they say the lens is f3.5 - 5.6 (the IS version)

If this is your lens then you will be able to select f3.5 but only when the lens is zoomed out to 18mm, if you zoom in to 55mm then the largest aperture you can select is f5.6. (that's what it means when it says the lens is 3.5-5.6, it changes depending on what zoom you are at)

[Baz Fatania]

Thanks you Cathus - that helps. I have found zooming out to 18mm gives me a F3.5 value. I can play around with this tomorrow.
Once again thanks
baz