yeah sounds about right.

but most people don't like the IQ degredation of the 2x nikkon one, the 1.4 seems to be what people use ( although of course you do lose the range)

So...if your lens had a max aperture of f/4 and you used it with a 2x teleconverter, at that point the D600 would still have the 7 center point available...but not the 33. Am I getting smarter? Or am I still off-base?

It means if you have a lens with a MAX aperture of f/8 wide open, the camera can still focus. It has no bearing on what aperture you set it to take the shot - all cameras focus with the aperture wide open and then flip the aperture down to the set aperture during exposure. (looking into the camera from the front with the lens off, that is what that little metal arm is for just inside the lens mount to the left)

Since people use long lenses with smaller apertures PLUS a teleconverter which further reduces the aperture, this is a handy thing, as the camera will still autofocus, albeit with less focus points than a larger max aperture.

This means lenses with a maximum (lowest F number) aperture greater than F8 wont auto focus, because not enough light comes through the lens. It has nothing to do with whether or not a lens will focus at a given aperture.

The new D600 autofocus specs read:

"Nikon Multi-CAM 4800 autofocus sensor module with TTL phase detection, fine-tuning, 39 focus points (including 9 cross-type sensors; the center 33 points are available at apertures slower than f/5.6 and faster than f/8, while the center 7 points are available at f/8)..."

What does the "33 points available at apertures slower than f/5.6 and faster than f/8, while the center 7 points are available f/8" mean? As a camera moron, it seems to imply that the camera won't focus at apertures outside that range...such as f/11.

I apologize in advance for my ignorance. Thanks!