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Gloves for photographers.

suzywong

suzywong

Wot, no electrons?
My old gloves have finally disintegrated, so I'm looking at buying some for "UK winters" - we're not talking Arctic, or even Alpine here - that will keep my ageing fingers warm on walks, but still allow me to use the 5D mk4 with its touchscreen.

I've seen some mittens which unzip across the palm & fold back, and others where a couple of the finger tips on each glove are held in place with magnets, but will fold back.

Anybody tried either & have thoughts?
 
suzywong said:
My old gloves have finally disintegrated, so I'm looking at buying some for "UK winters" - we're not talking Arctic, or even Alpine here - that will keep my ageing fingers warm on walks, but still allow me to use the 5D mk4 with its touchscreen.

I've seen some mittens which unzip across the palm & fold back, and others where a couple of the finger tips on each glove are held in place with magnets, but will fold back.

Anybody tried either & have thoughts?
Click to expand...

Having come back from a photo walk on a bitterly cold day some years back and suffered bleeding knuckles as a result, I decided that no amount of frosty beauty would lure me out again.
That said, I explored a whole range of options including fingertip-less gloves and ones with sensitive pads to enable touch screen use. None of them really worked for me.

In the end, I have opted for a 'warm enough' combination of silk glove liners with thin leather over-gloves that allow me to use most of the cameras button functions and focus/aperture rings (I use mostly manual glass) and ignore the seduction of the touchscreen except if absolutely essential.

The thin skin of old age is a bugger .....
 
A common problem taking progress photos & notes on building sites etc - gloves are always part of required PPE, but the kit is all is touch-screen. So you can readily buy such gloves that typically have no tips above 2nd joint to thumb and index fingers - and these are cheap.

So perhaps buy fuller, heavier versions of such like these - and just experiment with cutting the tip off your preferred digit(s) to suit? E.g - here's a six pack at a couple of quid a pair to experiment with..:

https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/wor...weight-precision-gloves-large-6-pack/p/126848

or have a look at recommended alternatives like the 'lightweight precision' gloves under £3 a pair - and alternative suppliers, of course.

(I don't use these directly - just a typical illustration - but the rubbery coating will make these grippy, and somewhat windproof, half the comfort issue: so while thin, will feel warm - while being cheap enough, for you to experiment. ATB )
 
Oh - and I owe @stevec67 for this recommendation - if you want stupidly-warm, but thin, grippy and tough on a budget - buy the cheap 2mm neoprene diving gloves from Decathlon online.

Hilariously effective : )
 
I’ve been through this recently and have settled on the Heat Company layer system: Full leather shell with Wind Pro liners. Actually only got the liners today so not used them yet - used a no-brand Merino liner to test the system, but couldn’t help myself buy the proper liners. They’re great if pricy, but then, I’m worth it ;)
 
martin clark said:
Oh - and I owe @stevec67 for this recommendation - if you want stupidly-warm, but thin, grippy and tough on a budget - buy the cheap 2mm neoprene diving gloves from Decathlon online.

Hilariously effective : )
Click to expand...
If it's not -10C and you aren't up a mountain like Sid Perou then you aren't trying hard enough. :)
 
OK, I acknowledge my inadequcies........ but at age 68, I just want fingers that aren't white after a ten minute walk :D

Looked at LCE, but couldn't find any. Think I'll nip over to Cotswold Outdoor tomorrow to see what they've got.
 
Cotswold will sell Dachstein mittens, beloved of mountaineer s and polar explorers since forever. Cut a little h ole for your trigger finger and only pop it out when you need to. Lovely.
 
The liners from HC aren’t especially suited as gloves in their own right (though can be used that way if it’s mild). Instead, they’re intended to be used mainly inside the outer shell, which is *extremely* comfy. You can then poke fingers out as required, magnetic clasps and weather-proofed zips etc. Pricy but will doubtless last for decades…
 
One other thing the OP might want to consider is those little heat pouches you can stuff into pockets or sometimes into flaps in some gloves (such as the Shell or Liners from HC). You can get a decent amount of residual warming from a pair of those pouches as an alternative or addition to good gloves. I've a bunch of them here, the HC ones claim to get up to 12 hours per pouch, the Mountain Warehouse ones I've also got last for a shorter period but still a good 4 hours. Enough for most purposes, and not especially expensive at around £1/pair (which is worth every penny if the weather's cold enough).

Next week I go to Transylvania for work (no kidding) where it could be -10C. I'll be taking the Q2 and the HC system will doubtless keep my hands toasty when I get the chance to go out and shoot some snaps....
 
gintonic said:
not what HC told me.
and they promote the fact they can be used as standalone gloves, and the image on this page shows just that
https://www.theheatcompany.com/en-gb/gloves/durable-liner-pro
Click to expand...
Oh you can definitely use them that way, and they'll be as good as any similar thin gloves in that regard, but probably not up to prolonged use below zero (especially if you suffer in the cold like me and the OP). What I meant was that they're primarily designed to be used as liners for the Shell as part of their layer system.

I must add that my own liners, the Wind Pro, just arrived yesterday and I haven't used them so can't really comment on how they work as solo gloves yet. Looking at them, I'd imagine they'd be fine for temps around 4C but expect that below that my fingers would turn white....
 
PS. The durable liner pro is a bit different since it's clearly a lightweight leather glove in its own right, and I nearly bought them instead of the Wind Pro, but decided that the Wind Pro made a bit more sense as a liner for the full leather Shell. Complicated, huh? :)
 
That's what we were discussing above. The shell is an extra, looks a bit like a posh oven glove but is pretty clever.
 
As I needed to use gloves last weekend I bought the cheapest & lightest I could find in a local “outdoors” store. These will do as a stopgap, and indeed I took them with me to London (cat sitting duty for a daughter 2).

Strolled up to the Horniman Museum gardens with the 5D4 and my trusty EF 24-105 f/4 L to get a couple of shots of the London skyline.

The gloves were OK (but I think I can do better), but the biggest problem was the dreaded Error code 01! yep, “camera failed to communicate with lens”.

Buqqer!
 
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