Roberto Panciatici
Wedding | Last Updated: April 4, 2024
First of all, I’m a daydreamer and I’m free. That’s the way I am and the way I want to be. I’m a full time professional portrait and wedding photographer and I came to photography by “chance”, like so many wonderful things that “just happen”. My passion for photography has led me to study it, and as I come to explore it more deeply I’ve also discovered myself.
I’m a very lucky person since I have the chance to travel the world because of my job. When you travel you need to think about what you really need for your work and what’s not really necessary. I prefer to travel light, as a lot of wedding photographers already do, but I usually work with two different camera bodies and fixed lenses so I need to be sure everything is safely packed and ready to use. For this reason, I always use my favorite bag – the Incase Ari Marcopoulos Camera Bag during the wedding day.
I use a few important things for doing my job because when you start to work on over 40 weddings per year as well as engagement and portrait sessions to do, you start to ask yourself: how can I save energy while doing my job the best I can?
For me the answer is: two Nikon D810, Nikon 50mm f/1.4, definitely my favorite lens, Nikon 85mm f/1.4 and the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 As for accessories I use: Blackrapid Rs-7 for my main camera and the Spider Camera Holster for the second camera, Visible Dust Sensor Cleaner, Calibre Ultra’Go mini Power Station – I couldn’t live without it – and the Manfrotto ML840H LED Light Panel. I use it for creative portraits and as a flash when I need it.
I’ve chosen to work with two different camera bodies because I’m storytelling and with this solution I can easily describe any scenes of the wedding day by switching quickly from a wide point of view to a closer one and if you want do it fastas you can you need two different camera body with different lenses, especially if you work alone as I usually do.
In my opinion, if you work with two camera bodies as I do, the best solution is to have the same camera body because you don’t have to think and work in a different way with the different cameras. Work with two Nikon D4s is impossible for me because of the weight of the camera, but I found in the Nikon D810 the right solution for me. They’re extremely fast and responsive and have the same amazing file quality as the Nikon D800.
I usually don’t care about the files size but if you need to save memory space you can use the Compressed Raw Recording and/or the 12 bit depth files. Personally, I used to take pictures in this way with my Nikon D800 but now I prefer to never use the 12 bit depth files even If I actually use the Compressed Raw Recording. I’ve never thought to use the S-Raw of the Nikon D810 because it’s useless for me and in my opinion Nikon does it just as a marketing solution.
As for the Nikon camera lenses: I don’t like to work with zooms. The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 is the only exception because it’s an amazing lens and it’s always on my second camera body and I never change it during the wedding day. The Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 permits me to describe the amazing views of my land, the ambience and architectural aspects in the best way.
I also have the Nikon 24mm f/1.4 but I prefer to use it for engagement more then wedding because I’m more focused on portraits during the engagement photographic session. The Nikon 50mm f/1.4 is my favorite lens and I couldn’t do my job without it. This is the lens that teaches me to use the best zoom I’ve ever had – my legs! I switch this lens only when I need to use the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 to take some very close-up portraits or if I can’t use my favorite zoom (legs) :-)
I’ve thought a lot to change this lens with the new Nikon 58mm f/1.4 but I haven’t decided yet if it’s the best solution for me or not.
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