Interested in Voigtländer lenses
(...) Just not so sure what to do now ... (...)
What I have often done is this:
• bring a tripod + camera + an envelope with cash covering the lens price and maybe even a laptop
• ask them in the photo store if I can hand them the envelope with the deposit while trying out the relevant lens outside in the street for half an hour (and preferably on a tripod to rule out some of the human errors)
• hand back the lens and get back the cash after the test shots have been captured
• write down the Serial no. of the lens and then evaluate the captures on the laptop either in the store, in my car or at home
• make up my mind whether I want to buy the lens or not
I have always been allowed to do this when asking and it has saved me a lot of troubles.
Don't underestimate the value of autofocus, it's extremely useful at times.
So simply giving up the autofocus Nikkors doesn't sound like a solution in my humble opinion.