What gloves do you wear?

Hi all,

I think a photographers biggest concert when shooting in cold conditions are his hands. When your hands get cold it isn't all that fun anymore. But unfortunately it seems that the glove-business never really thought about photographers. The best way to keep your hands warm are mittens...but there is no way I could use them while photographing....and most of the warm gloves are just too bulky to handle the camera. I know about some mittens that you can turn into a fingerless glove by flapping the finger-part away...but I never found them to be good protection against the cold wind (the ones I used were woolen with a fleece inner part). So my question to you is...what gloves would you recomment for shooting in cold conditions? Hope you guys can help me out.

In normally cold weather I wear polypropelene(sp?) glove liners with fingerless wool gloves over those. The liners allow full camera operation, the wool give reasonable insulation. In Yellowstone this past winter I added a heavy pair of mittens to put over that when not shooting. This got me through temps that dropped as low as -40f and rarely got above -10f.

I don't think you will find what you want in one glove...atleast I haven't. A system and layering of gloves with overmitts works for me.

My currest system is:
Outer/Removable shell: OR Alti Mitts for their one hand operation
Shooting layer: OR Contact Gloves for their warmth/dexterity
Insulating Layer: OR PL 150 Fleece Liners.
All sized to fit.

I was suprised with the leather fingers on the contact gloves how much I can do shooting wise with the gloves on...

The overmitts can't be shot with on, but tied into your parka, these are the easiest mitts I've found to slip on and off...

I have a pair of North Face gloves that work great!

SealSkinz Ultra Grip (not actually made from seal skin I hasten to add). Warm, windproof and waterproof.

They look a bit bulky but I find I can work the camera fine with them on, even with my big hands on the small and fiddly EOS 350D.

On very cold weather shoots, I wear a light pair of wool liner gloves inside Steger expedition mitts, which are leather/cordura with triple-weight fleece liners. That's three layers. This setup keeps my hands warm in the worst conditions I've faced (-38 while photographing). I generally leave on the left-hand setup at all times in extreme cold, because I don't need my left hand to do anything but support the lens. When not shooting, I've got both hands fully encased. When shooting, I drop the right-hand mitt into a big pocket with the cuff sticking out and keep on the wool liner glove so I can work the controls. I keep a couple dry chemical hand warmers in the right-hand pocket of my anorak/parka so when my lightly gloved right hand starts to chill I can stick in in there for a bit and warm it back up.

Any heavyweight leather/combo mittens will do for an outer layer, and I can't emphasize enough how much loft and insulation the expedition weight fleece liners provide. Big thing is, make sure each layer is big enough. The inner wool gloves are skin tight, but the other two layers need to be big enough for you to move your hand/fingers around freely inside the mittens. If those layers feel snug, go up in size. And the thumb, I've found, is pretty important. Most mitts are big enough for me through the hand and wrist, but the thumb is narrow and snug. Mitt makers just all seem to design them that way. I don't know why. Maybe I just have a really thick thumb.

Jasper: I use a set of polypro glove liners under Outdoor Reserach mittens that peel back. The mittens are windproof and very warm and have a rubberized substance on the palms and finger area that makes turning a focus/zoom ring easy. The only drawback to these mittens is that the flaps are secured against the back of the mitten with small magnets instead of velcro. It works great but plays havoc with a compass. I nearly spun myself into a dizzy fit trying to find north with them on until I figured out what was going on. The magnets also messed with the analog dial on my watch. It was kind of funny in retrospect but it did cost me an unecessary watch battery replacement and I almost replaced the watch before the lightbulb went off. Here's a link to a description

I use a pair of silk liners that allow me to use the camera controls. On top of those i use either a pair of The North Face goretex gloves (no longer for sale but similar to the Apex series materials) if it is not too cold, if things get nasty I use a pair of TNF montana gloves as they have a pouch for hand warmers.

Hi Jasper,

I'm using these, with some thermo inner gloves:

http://www.outdoordesigns.co.uk/products_gloves_konagripconvert.html

You can find those at bever.nl of andere outdoorzaken in nederland ;-)

Groetjes,
- jacco

Hi Jasper
I think a combination of gloves is probably the answer. An inner liner glove combined with a fold back mitten seems to be about as good as it gets. We just found some foldback mittens at WalMart (no help to you I know) that were $5 and had a fold back thumb too. That seems to be particularly useful with digital cameras that have so many controls on the back.

I did have a pair of fold back mitts that were made of a synthetic suede with a Thinsulate lining that were great in virtually all conditions (completely windproof) but I lost one and am now using woolen ones that are similarly lined (but only quite windproof). If I find more of the originals I'll post that info.

I wear fleece gloves with Gore-Tex overmitts. I can do almost anything with the gloves on (except fiddly little thing, like plugging in the remote release). I usually don't even see a need to remove the overmitt from my left hand. Sometimes, I've even shot with the overmitt on the right as well...

-Paul

I use Mountain Hardware polypro glove liners with mittens over (if the mittens are needed). I can do virtually anything with my 4x5 with the liners on.

Jasper--

Could be a BIG difference in what you call cold and I call cold. I'll just assume you are talking about weather cold enough to make your hands very uncomfortable when they are naked. Best solution if it's really cold is a two glove method. One pair of very warm gloves/mittens with waterproof membrane such as GoreTex. (I'm definitely talking about temps well below freezing. To operate the camera, I keep a pair of very thin liner gloves in the pockets of all my winter coats. These work super for a long enough time to even set up a 4x5 shot. I highly endorse them. These are the same thing Joe, Bill, and Harley are talking about. A good cheap place to get them is www.campmor.com

http://tinyurl.com/y5gwwu

Buy two pair and keep them in each jacket you use. That way they are always there.


Kent in SD

I use the polypro glove liners that others have mentioned. But, my real secret weapon are the had warmers I keep in my pockets. If I can put my hands into warm pockets every I'm able to work in the cold for quite a while.

- Dan.

I use Haglöfs Primo Liner Gloves (Silicon pattern in the palm for improved grip) inside The North Face M Vortex Gloves.

I usually wear Manzella Silkweight Windstopper gloves as my base layer. They are super-thin and pretty warm. And the little bit of texture helps operate the camera controls. If conditions dictate, I will wear Outdoor Research fleece mittens and a shell mitten. If I know it's going to be REALLY cold, I beef up the base layer a bit with a lightweight fleece glove with some texture on the fingers.

I have used polypro liners in the past, but they didn't hold up very well, and after a bitter cold morning in Rocky Mountain NP when my fingers got too cold to operate my camera, I decided I needed something a little better.

Thanks all!

Jasper

I also use the Sealskinz glove and I find it waterproof and warm. The only thing I would say is that the gripping doesnt go all the way to the fingertips so you have to be care when handling lenses and cameras. I find I tend to take them off when doing anything remotely risky, but once lens, camera and tripod are together then you find that they are thin enough to control the camera without a second thought.

I rang Sealskinz and asked then whether they would make me a spedcial pair with more grip, but they replied that the gripping is manufactured by another company who make special pattern 'screens' to fix the rubber coatings to the gloves. They said they wouldnt do this as it was too costly. Shame. Thought I would let you know.

They are excellent and yes, completely waterproof.