diff --git a/crates/catalog/src/query.rs b/crates/catalog/src/query.rs
index 311f6dcde..7625c9ab6 100644
--- a/crates/catalog/src/query.rs
+++ b/crates/catalog/src/query.rs
@@ -157,13 +157,20 @@ fn token_matches(p: &Photo, tok: &str) -> bool {
             Some((_, v)) => (x - v).abs() < 1e-9,
             None => false,
         };
+        // Fields stored as `f32` compare at f32 precision: 2.8f32 widened to f64 is not 2.8.
+        let cmp32 = |x: f32, s: &str| match num(s) {
+            Some(('>', v)) => x > v as f32,
+            Some(('<', v)) => x < v as f32,
+            Some((_, v)) => x == v as f32,
+            None => false,
+        };
         return match field {
             "rating" | "stars" => cmp(p.rating as f64, val),
             "flag" => Flag::parse(val) == Some(p.flag),
             "label" | "color" => p.label.is_some_and(|l| format!("{l:?}").eq_ignore_ascii_case(val)),
             "iso" => p.meta.iso.is_some_and(|i| cmp(i as f64, val)),
-            "f" | "aperture" => p.meta.aperture.is_some_and(|a| cmp(a as f64, val)),
-            "focal" => p.meta.focal_mm.is_some_and(|a| cmp(a as f64, val)),
+            "f" | "aperture" => p.meta.aperture.is_some_and(|a| cmp32(a, val)),
+            "focal" => p.meta.focal_mm.is_some_and(|a| cmp32(a, val)),
             "camera" => p.meta.camera.to_lowercase().contains(val),
             "lens" => p.meta.lens.to_lowercase().contains(val),
             "keyword" | "kw" => p.meta.keywords.iter().any(|k| crate::keywords::is_under(k, val)),
diff --git a/crates/catalog/src/tests.rs b/crates/catalog/src/tests.rs
index 255417098..a32b5acf5 100644
--- a/crates/catalog/src/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/catalog/src/tests.rs
@@ -144,6 +144,27 @@ fn free_text_with_a_colon_searches_the_text_fields() {
     assert_eq!(q("11:45"), Vec::<PhotoId>::new(), "an unknown field matching no text finds nothing");
 }
 
+/// `f:`/`aperture:` and `focal:` are stored as `f32`; a typed value that isn't exact in binary
+/// (2.8, 5.6) must still match, and `<`/`>` must not count the photo's own value.
+#[test]
+fn search_tokens_match_f32_aperture_and_focal() {
+    let mut c = Catalog::new();
+    let a = photo(&mut c, "a.jpg", "2026-05-01T10:00:00");
+    let mut m = c.photo(a).unwrap().meta.clone();
+    m.aperture = Some(2.8);
+    m.focal_mm = Some(5.6);
+    c.apply(Op::SetMeta { id: a, meta: Box::new(m) }).unwrap();
+    let q = |t: &str| c.query(&Filter { text: t.into(), ..Default::default() }, &Sort::default());
+    assert_eq!(q("f:2.8"), vec![a], "f:2.8");
+    assert_eq!(q("aperture:=2.8"), vec![a], "aperture:=2.8");
+    assert_eq!(q("focal:5.6"), vec![a], "focal:5.6");
+    assert!(q("f:2.9").is_empty(), "f:2.9");
+    assert!(q("f:<2.8").is_empty(), "f:<2.8");
+    assert!(q("f:>2.8").is_empty(), "f:>2.8");
+    assert!(q("focal:<5.6").is_empty(), "focal:<5.6");
+    assert_eq!(q("f:>2.7"), vec![a], "f:>2.7");
+}
+
 /// A `captured` string that is not ASCII (the Lightroom importer copies `captureTime` into an
 /// `AddPhoto` op verbatim, and a JSON snapshot is valid UTF-8 whatever it holds) must not be
 /// sliced on a byte index in `date_groups`: grouping counts the well-formed dates and ignores