[navcom]

I cannot for the life of me understand why an instructor would tell you to always use auto focus. There are benefits to AF for sure, but it's not the answer to everything.

I do landscape photography. If I used AF exclusively, my shots would be awful. I use the hyperfocal distance for the shot I'm taking. You can't achieve this with auto focus because AF doesn't know what you are trying to do.

If you are trying to capture that racecar going around the track, AF might be a huge benefit, but for landscape photography, to many it's a HUGE no-no for most circumstances.