Off to Infinity Mirrors soon: what lens to bring?

[ahsanford]

I'm off to the Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Broad Museum soon.

If you are not familiar with this exhibit (previously in NY), it's effectively a collection of walk-in closets of light with mirrors and patterns reflecting ad infinitum. See a shot from a prior single installment I checked out earlier this year, and here are some shots of the exhibit itself on Google:

https://www.google.com/search?q=infinity+mirrors+broad&client=firefox-b-1-ab&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjyrsuN6ZvYAhVE6WMKHYNFC6EQ_AUICygC&biw=1916&bih=950

The rules?

• No tripod
• No flash
• Literally 30 seconds time in each room and no returns to prior rooms -- it's a one-off viewing
• I am seeing this with my wife and possibly one other person (they shuttle you in in twos and threes)
• Lighting can run the gamut from bright and jarring to dim and twinkling
• I will only bring one camera body
• These rooms are tiny, perhaps 3' x 8' or so. The reflections go on forever, but anyone in the box with me will likely be in frame and close.

So, all that said (and see both link and attached shot), talk me down on why I should / shouldn't just go with my 16-35 f/4L IS on my 5D3 and call it good.

I do have an 85 f/1.4L IS rental in my possession through the holidays, but changing out in the exhibit is a terrible idea and though the bokeh would be nuts in the twinkly rooms, I wouldn't be able to shoot my wife without it being a uncomfortably tightly framed.

Strongly thinking wide FL and IS > aperture here, so it'll either be my 16-35 f/4 IS, 24-70 f/4L IS or possibly my 35 f/2 IS.

Thoughts? Has anyone been?

- A

 

[Maximilian]

Hi ahsanford!

First: I haven't been there or in any similar mirror room situation.
So all my thoughts are theoretical.

...
So, all that said (and see both link and attached shot), talk me down on why I should / shouldn't just go with my 16-35 f/4L IS on my 5D3 and call it good.

I do have an 85 f/1.4L IS rental
...
Strongly thinking wide FL and IS > aperture here, so it'll either be my 16-35 f/4 IS, 24-70 f/4L IS or possibly my 35 f/2 IS.

Thoughts? Has anyone been?

Second:
Reading this and seeing the gear available my guess would be to second your choice of 5D3 with 16-35.
Why?
I suppose you're totally right that changing lenses and fiddling with gear would kill all the joy of that exhibition.
Using a prime lens like the 35 or the 85 mm would be way too inflexible and in case of the 85 much too narrow.
So the question would be if the UWA 16-23 mm are more useful over the 36-70 mm.
IMHO I'd be going for the later if i was planing to portrait my companions in front of the mirrors.
BUT if i was more into the capture of the whole tiny room the UWA would be vital.
And 35 mm should be good enough for a bust portrait, if needed.

So that'll point towards the 16-35.


By the way: Merry Christmas

 

[BillB]

Hi ahsanford!

First: I haven't been there or in any similar mirror room situation.
So all my thoughts are theoretical.

...
So, all that said (and see both link and attached shot), talk me down on why I should / shouldn't just go with my 16-35 f/4L IS on my 5D3 and call it good.

I do have an 85 f/1.4L IS rental
...
Strongly thinking wide FL and IS > aperture here, so it'll either be my 16-35 f/4 IS, 24-70 f/4L IS or possibly my 35 f/2 IS.

Thoughts? Has anyone been?

Second:
Reading this and seeing the gear available my guess would be to second your choice of 5D3 with 16-35.
Why?
I suppose you're totally right that changing lenses and fiddling with gear would kill all the joy of that exhibition.
Using a prime lens like the 35 or the 85 mm would be way too inflexible and in case of the 85 much too narrow.
So the question would be if the UWA 16-23 mm are more useful over the 36-70 mm.
IMHO I'd be going for the later if i was planing to portrait my companions in front of the mirrors.
BUT if i was more into the capture of the whole tiny room the UWA would be vital.
And 35 mm should be good enough for a bust portrait, if needed.

So that'll point towards the 16-35.


By the way: Merry Christmas

+1. Don't think you can go wrong with either choice, but in this situation, I would really want to see what I could do wider than 24. But that is me. 35 is long enough for environmental portraits, which is what I would be thinking about.

 

[IglooEater]

I don’t really have any suggestions other than what people have already said, but be aware that you’re required to share some images afterwards if you ask for advice here ;D

 

[ahsanford]

Sorry, folks, was traveling for the holiday.

Infinity Mirrors was terrific. As expected, it was a nightmare for a photographer. In each room (there were six, I believe), you get a hard stop-watched 30 seconds. That's it.

Though the standing space in each room is about the same, the actual physical space in each room varies -- some are tiny closets where the reflected items are in the standing space, while others have a 'moat' of stuff to be reflected between the standing space and the mirrors. A bigger room lends itself to longer FLs (if you so desire), but some of the standing space only rooms would be a hot mess for anything longer then 35mm FF if you want friend/family in the shot.

Some rooms are glaringly bright, while others are dim and twinkling.

So, here are my top tips:

1) Do not change out lenses in the room once you see what it has to offer. That's madness -- you only get 30 seconds! Instead, ask each door person if you can peak inside each room (when other folks ahead of you are going in/out) to get a quick read on how big/bright the room is, and if that room has high twinkly bokeh opportunities or if they don't. Informed by that peak, change your glass in advance of entering the room.

2) Shoot UWA + IS as a default, but have a longer fast prime at the ready for those twinkly rooms. I believe (at least here in this LA version of the exhibit), rooms #1 and #5 would really pop with a fast prime.

3) Don't just shoot the room / your subject. Some of these rooms are spectacular experiences you need to put in your 'heart drive', so be sure to give yourself a good 10 seconds to just soak up the view.

4) Either bracket for exposure or run auto ISO to 1/FL min shutter so you don't waste precious time nailing exposure. This is heresy for some, but I think you need to rely on the camera for exposure in these absurd time constraints.

5) Shoot in RAW and expect some work in post -- the lighting in these rooms is odd and challenging, and trusting white balance in JPG is not recommended.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Shots to come. All room numbers are from memory -- the rooms were actually named, but I do not have that list to associate with these.

 

[ahsanford]

Room 1 I had been in before from a prior visit (as a preview).

Probably my favorite -- a real mic drop sort of opener.

I did not do the peak-ahead preview on this one, and it cost me. This would have been a perfect room for the 85 f/1.4L IS I brought, but instead I walked in cold with the 16-35 f/4L IS, muttered a frustrated expletive, and went to work. The lights pulse in here, so brightness of your subject will vary.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Room 2 is a wide lens move for sure, which is what I used. The insides of this one were actually larger than the rest of the rooms, but the dangling spheres still made it cozy. Odd lighting that I did not correct in post (as that's what the artist wanted us to see).

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Room 3 was wide, bright, and expanded for the little red/white fingers that made up a cool alien landscape.

Wide lens for sure.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Room 4 was framed up like a peeping tom sort of thing -- you could walk up to two windows that looked into the room, but you could not enter this room yourself. They had strict rules on our faces (or lenses) could go right up to the windows but not inside.

Each window can see each other, but with an angled view (it was consecutive sides of a square shape, I believe).

I saw a lot of bright lights, so out came the 85 f/1.4L IS for this. A mistake in my book -- I should have gone wide here and skipped aiming for a subject. (I liked what I got, but I didn't actually shoot the room.)

So also attached are simple cell phone shots my wife reeled in.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Room 5 was Barry Lyndon-like super dark / candlelit room. A fantastic experience. You could go wide in there (see linked shot from elsewhere) but I just rented that new 85L and wanted the bokeh.

Unfortuntately, my 5D3 with no flash AF assist possible (no flashes allowed so I didn't bring it) could not lock AF as the room was crazy dark. It was too challenging to LiveView 10x AF handheld in the dark, so I went to manual AF through the VF and swung and missed many, many times.

In post I didn't like the single-tone nature of the color and just moved to B+W.

It's clearly a fail, but a pretty one. That bokeh is lovely.

- A

 

[ahsanford]

Room 6 = no photos per the artist's request. You should all go and see it.

- A

 

[sulla]

nice story and pics, thanx for sharing!

 

[IglooEater]

Wow! thanks for sharing AH- I thoroughly enjoyed your series!

 

[Maximilian]

Thanks for sharing your experience and nice pictures.