As the chillier months are slowly approaching it is worth checking if your photography accessories are up for the task. A warm and versatile pair of gloves are important for every photographer, however if you shoot wildlife, landscape or street photography they are absolutely essential. Cold and numb fingers mean you won’t be able to change settings as quickly as you would like or not even feel the buttons under your fingertips. To avoid such mishaps we collected the best gloves for photography from affordable options to more expensive pro versions so there is something for everyone.
What to look for when buying gloves for photography?
- Size: Always measure your hands in accordance with the company’s size chart before purchasing
- Grip: Look for a glove that offers a non-slip grip to ensure a safe and secure handling of your camera
- Finger openings: These let you poke the tips of your fingers through for improved operation and touchscreen control
- Magnets: Some gloves feature magnets to hold the finger openings back when they’re in use
- Dexterity: Gloves with a high dexterity allow you to work precisely and accurately with excellent control
- Extra features: Some gloves offer a handy storage pocket to tuck away a hand warmer, spare SD card or lens cloth
Our Quick list for the best gloves for photography:
- The Heat Company Heat 2 Softshell Gloves – buy now
- Valleret Milford Photography Gloves – buy now
- The North Face Etip Gloves – buy now
- Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Sporting Gloves – buy now
- MacWet Cliamtec Sports Gloves – buy now
- Vallerret Markhof Pro V3 Gloves – buy now
- The Heat Company Heat 3 Smart – buy now
The Heat Company Heat 2 Softshell Gloves
- Price: £61.20
- Fingerless glove and mitten in one
- Available sizes: 7, 9, 10
- Goatskin palm
- Inside handwarmer pocket
- Thinsulate insulation
- theheatcompany.com
The company hailing from the Austrian Alps knows how to put together warm and easy to use gloves for photography and outdoor activities. This particular pair is made form wind and water repellent material with a goatskin palm for better grip. Lined with a soft fleece it is menat for ‘transition’ seasons, but it proved itself to be effective even in the colder months too.
These Softshell gloves combine fingerless gloves and mittens with a flip-top to keep your fingers warm when you’re not using your camera, and the pocket inside the mitten tops can also hold a hand warmer.
There is a flip back top on the thumbs, so you can choose to only free your thumb or flip back the mittens too and have all your fingertips free, the Heat Company Heat 2 Softshell Gloves are available in three sizes, 7, 9 and 10.
Rating: 4.5
Read our review of the Heat Company Heat 2 Softshell Gloves
Valleret Milford Photography Gloves
- €69.95 (approx £60.60)
- Polartec Windbloc Fleece
- Flip-Tech finger caps on the thumb, index and middle finger
- Touchscreen-compatible coated index finger & thumb tips
- Water-repellent shell glove
- Designed for ‘mild winter’
- photographygloves.com
These stashed shell gloves are designed with a small pocket on the back that holds the water repellent outer shell. Two fingers and the thumbs have a flip back top that makes this gloves extremely useful for photographers. With this layout you can easily access camera controls, press buttons or change settings.
For better grip the palms are reinforced with a non-slip pattern. The Vallerret Milford gloves are made of soft fleece and ideal for ‘mild winter’ weather. It is available in a wide range of sizes from XS to XL.
The North Face Etip Gloves
- Price: £40
- Website: www.thenorthface.co.uk
- Available sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL
- Available Colours: Black, Black/Silver, Black/Blue, Black/Yellow
- Pockets: No
- Finger openings: No
- Double layered: No
- Touchscreen compatible: Yes
These gloves from The North Face are thinner and lighter in design to some of the other options that we’ve gathered in this roundup. Though they wouldn’t be our first choice for an expedition to the Antarctic or locations where you could find yourself shooting in sub zero temperatures, their stretch-to-fit fleece material ensures they fit the hand well while allowing unrestricted finger movement.
Choose the right size from the five different sizes available (XS, S, M, L, XL) and you’ll find dexterity isn’t too dissimilar to when you operate the camera barehanded. The good thing about this is that they allow you to control buttons, dials and switches across a camera body and lens with little fuss, including small buttons and ports that can be hard to press or access with thicker gloves.
They’re named Etip gloves for good reason. The conductive tips on each finger let you operate a touchscreen, be it on your camera or mobile device, without having to remove them. I did find however that I occasionally selected the wrong setting from the camera’s menu or typed incorrect letters when writing messages and emails on my smartphone so you do need to take a bit more care than usual.
In terms of grip, the dimpled silicone that spreads across the thumb, index finger and middle finger prevents the camera slipping in your grasp and I took precise control of the focus and zoom rings on my lens with no problem. Heading out and using the gloves on a bitterly cold day highlighted their biggest weakness though, which is that they’re not particularly warm.
If you’re going to be working in mild, spring-like temperatures and want good dexterity they’ll probably be adequate, but for demanding outdoor photographers, for whom warmth is hugely important, you’d be better off putting your money towards a thicker pair that offer superior insulation.
Rating: 3/5
Sealskinz Waterproof All Weather Sporting Gloves
- Price: £48
- Website: www.sealskinz.com
- Available sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL
- Available Colours: Black/Olive Green
- Pockets: No
- Finger openings: Yes
- Double layered: No
- Touchscreen compatible: No
Sealskinz offer 23 different kinds of all weather gloves in their range, but it’s their waterproof all weather sporting glove we’re taking a closer look at in this roundup. Designed to offer precise control with a balance of warmth and breathability, these gloves are considerably thicker than The North Face Etip gloves, but not as big as those made by Nikon or The Heat Company.
Available in an attractive olive green and black colour in five different sizes (S, M, L, XL, XXL), they feature an extremely soft goat suede palm and elasticated wrist strap that fastens by Velcro. The three layer construction and pre curved fingers provide a warm, comforting place for your hands and from the moment you slip them on you sense they’re well made and should create a strong barrier against challenging weather.
There are no irritating seams on the inside of the gloves, but the fingers are quite chunky. This prevented me being able to open compartments such as the battery door or ports at the side of my camera without flipping back the thumb and index finger openings. These play a crucial role in precise camera operation and accurate touchscreen control. They do feature magnets to keep them held back, but they aren’t very strong and have a tendency to release when you clench your fist.
The idea of thumb and finger openings is that they allow the tip of your finger to poke through the glove, but I found the index finger opening exposes too much of your finger to the cold. Outdoor testing revealed they provide excellent grip when they’re wet, and with the finger openings shut, they did a fine job of protecting my hands against bitter wind chill.
Buyers should note that the gloves come up a bit small so you’ll definitely want to measure your hands and refer to the online size guide before purchasing.
Rating: 4
Vallerret Markhof Pro V3 Photography Gloves
- Price: £25
- Website: www.photographygloves.com
- Available sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL
- Available Colours: Black
- Pockets: Yes
- Finger openings: Yes
- Double layered: No
- Touchscreen compatible: No
If you haven’t heard of Vallerret before, they’re a Norwegian company specialising in the design and manufacture of premium gloves for photographers. Vallerret’s first photography gloves were launched off the back of a kickstarter campaign in 2015 and since then they’ve created a range of gloves to cater for all photographers needs. As well as thin gloves for mild winter weather, the produce thicker gloves for much colder winter temperatures.
The Markhof Pro V3 gloves we’re looking at are intended for everyday-use in mid winter and feature a pre-curved design and 100% merino wool liner with thinsulate insulation and weather-proofed fabrics. These high performance materials contribute to a very warm and comfortable feel as soon as they’re worn.
Intended to fit your hand snuggly, there’s the option of choosing from six sizes (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL) With a jersey cuff, they can be slipped on and off in a matter of seconds, and to ensure your camera never feels like its going to slip from your hands, they offer a quite excellent non-slip grip that stretches right across the palm and fingers.
There’s more too. You get finger openings on the thumb and index finger that allows you to poke just the right amount of your fingers through to take control of the buttons and dials on your camera or use a touchscreen precisely. The finger flaps fold back and secure by magnets and there are even pockets on the back of the gloves, which can be used to slide in a hand warmer, spare memory card or lens cloth. Vallerret even includes a handy tripod key.
If you’re after a pair of warm gloves that are effective at keep the cold out and have been thoughtfully designed with photography in mind, you’ll be hard pushed to find a better example.
Rating: 5/5
Read our review of the Vallerret Markhof Pro 3.
MacWet Climatec Sports Gloves
- Price: £33
- Website: www.macwet.com
- Available sizes: 14 sizes available from 6cm to 12cm
- Available Colours: Black, Brown, Green, Navy
- Pockets: No
- Finger openings: No
- Double layered: No
- Touchscreen compatible: Yes
Although these MacWet sports gloves aren’t as thick as some of the other pairs in this test and wouldn’t be our first choice for shooting in the extreme cold, they do perform well in milder climates, or when you might come up against rough or wet conditions.
The Aquatec fabric they’re made from is purposely designed to encourage efficient exchange of air through the material and drive moisture away from the hand to ensure maximum grip is attained at all times. Compared to MacWet’s Micromesh gloves that are intended for warmer days, these Climatec gloves are fleece lined, water resistant and windproof. You can choose from a short cuff that finishes at the wrist or long cuff that extends a little further.
MacWet offer as many as 14 sizes, but helpfully there’s a clear sizing guide on the website that instructs you to measure across the palm of your hand just below the fingers to establish your required size. If you’d prefer a different colour they’re also available in brown, green and navy.
As you’d expect from a glove that’s designed to be tight fitting, the level of dexterity is very high. I experienced no difficulty pressing small buttons or accessing ports at the side of the camera, however I did find them to be a bit hit and miss when it came to navigating my camera’s touchscreen. The same could be said when I attempted answering a few emails on my smartphone out in the field, which frustratingly led to quite a few typing errors.
The best thing about these MacWet gloves is the grip they provide when your hands get wet. Even after getting drenched outdoors it never at any point felt like my camera was going to slip from my hand. They’re quick to dry in the wind and being as thin and as light as they are means they take up barely any space in your pocket or bag.
Rating: 4/5
The Heat Company Heat 3 Smart
- Price: £118
- Website: www.theheatcompany.com
- Available sizes: 8 sizes available from 6cm to 13cm
- Available Colours: Black, Beige, Brown, Grey, Green, Tarmac
- Pockets: Yes
- Finger openings: Yes
- Double layered: Yes
- Touchscreen compatible: Yes
If you know you’re going to be photographing in ferociously cold temperatures, opting for a thick mitten glove that provides a high level of comfort and warmth is one of your best options. These Heat 3 Smart gloves are similar to Nikon’s gloves in that they feature two layers for maximum insulation.
The integrated liner that’s stitched inside the mitten is extremely soft and as you slide your hand into the glove your fingers naturally slip into their respective finger sections. When you want to operate your camera, it’s a case of unzipping the mitten and flipping it back to reveal your fingers, which remain protected against the elements by the integrated liner. A strong magnet helps keep the mitten flap folded back and the same is said for the thumb finger opening, which has its own flap to lock it shut and prevent any cold creeping in.
The dexterity of the inner liner is hard to fault and with conductive silver tips on the thumb, index and middle fingers you can take control of touchscreens. I rarely selected the wrong menu setting on my camera, but did find myself being slightly more watchful when typing messages on my smartphone.
The goat leather material that’s used on the palm of the mitten is extremely durable and a leather balm is supplied to guard the leather against wetness and keep it soft. Another nice touch are the supplied hand warmers. These were slipped into the soft-lined pockets on the back of the gloves to keep my fingers toasty during testing.
Drawstrings to secure the gloves around your wrists and a useful catch strap that can prevent you accidentally dropping the gloves complete the flawless design.
If you after one of the warmest pair of gloves you can buy for the coldest of outdoor photography expeditions, look no further. They’re quite brilliant.
Rating: 5/5
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