[Rover]

Sometimes there is no need to rely on the AF system. You can set focus to just about anywhere on a lens wider than 20mm and everything will be adequately be in focus. I prefer infinity and there are good reasons but that's another story.

 

Packing your gear just because the light is too low seems like a limp excuse.

 

There are great shots possible everywhere at anytime of day and night!

I've found that this is so not true; if something isn't blurred to the point of turning into a bunch of boken balls, that doesn't mean it's usably sharp. When MFing a 24mm lens (all right, it's not 20mm but close enough) for nightscapes the tiniest movement of the focus ring would throw the scene out of focus far enough for me to consider it unusable; stopping way down might've helped things but nightscapes aren't about shooting at f/11, innit.

When I have the time to shoot with the tripod, LV and MF, all is fine (well... not quite since I usually have trouble finding the point of best focus). But when I'm relying on AF (which is, 99% of the time), it usually means I'm constrained by the scene.