It looks great for a 9$ light.
A "default position" for focus sounds really crazy. Most of the time I use manual lenses. Besides the focus I can change the aperture during exposure for different light sources. F 4 for a dim RGB light and f16 for fireworks and so on.
i ordered a longer one (50cm) for 15$. will see how lucky i will be with that one. One positive of it being a cheap built is it is light. Godox is pretty heavy.
I kinda started my photography with playing with long exposures. Maybe this cheap lights will get me to do more of it.
I would never thought about the focus doing that if i didn't see it. First night i got home with everything out of focus :) i am not even sure do all RF mount lenses do that, the 35mm is doing it for sure.
manual lenses make sense for this, manual aperture is quite handy. only manual lens i have at the moment is Helios 44 and the front element is reversed :) I do need to test out the old trigger.
I use some cheap 50 cm RGB lights (20€) for some years. I can't remember the name of it, but they work great. Maybe you should buy a bright torch with high CRI and a nice beam too. It is much easier and better for illuminating large rooms and landscapes and cars.
Besides the Helios 44 I use the Mir 1b. It is a great 37mm lens with a similar price to the Helios. The 12 mm Laowa is a great lens too but very expensive (1000 €).
It's always nice when people are infected with the light painting virus. 😉
those cheap ones usually have some random names :)
i was checking out Mir 1b years ago, it was a bit more expensive and harder to find than helios 44. At one time Helios 44 was everywhere and could be bought for 15$.
Light painting was always fun for me, as the results are something you "can't see with naked eye"