Anyone who does outdoor photography will likely, at some point, do so in the cold. Handling a cold camera and tripod makes your hands even colder, faster. You need a good pair of gloves.
My hands get very cold very quickly. I haven't been diagnosed with Reynaud's disease, but I need more warmth than most.
I've tried many gloves while trying to find a good setup. Note that I am not comparing gloves from the same genre; this is simply a list of all gloves I've tried, along with their pros and cons.
But first, some observations:
- Fingers stay warmer if the rest of you is properly warm. Keep your core, head, arms, legs and feet warm, and then the gloves don't need to be quite so thick.
- Mittens don't work for me in some situations. I often photograph wildlife and do so hand-held. I need my fingers, with all the dexterity I can get. Mittens might work if you only shoot from the tripod, and spend a lot of time waiting for the right moment rather than operating the camera.
- Mittens tend to be too long for my fingers and I cannot curl my fingers around something like a tripod leg when that is the case.
- Some gloves have pockets for handwarmers
- Windproof gloves are very helpful. Wind will steal the warm air from you.
- Waterproof gloves are helpful in foul weather, or when handling snow.
- There is an inverse relationship between dexterity and warmth.
- Layering a liner with an outer glove helps with warmth.
- No gloves I have found, even thin, tight-fitting liners, offer enough dexterity for things like changing memory cards or batteries. The fingers need to be bare, at least for the gear I've used.
Hand Out
One mitten brand I tried was Hand Out (https://handoutgloves.com/), which unzip around the knuckles and let all 4 fingers and your thumb out of the glove/mitten. Mine are super warm and water-proof. I just wish I'd gotten their gloves instead of the mittens because I can't use the camera while they are all zipped up and toasty. These will be great for snowboarders, and fit people with long skinny hands. The long cuffs go up your jacket sleeve pretty far, and seal out wind very nicely. They are so warm I tend to unzip them a bit to vent off some heat. I have used them standing around in single digit F temperatures with a wind and my hands remained toasty warm. But the dexterity is so bad that I can't even hold my dog's leash... I just drop it all the time when using these gloves, and I don't notice until I hear the clatter on the ground.
The Heat Company
A hybrid brand I tried was Heat. I have the Heat 2 glove/mitten (https://theheatcompany.us/pages/heat-2-system). They have okay warmth right around freezing, but below that they don't keep me warm enough. They let all your fingers and thumb out as needed, but if you are shooting hand-held then you lose warmth through the tips of your fingers. I don't need all of my fingers exposed... just the first finger and thumb, but I found I can use the mitten to cover the last 3 fingers and let my first finger stick out. In mitten mode, the grip isn't very good; I can't carry my camera or tripod easily. The mitten part would benefit from adding grip dots. Also, the thumb covers are too long to have any dexterity while covered. You can get a liner (Heat makes several, or buy another brand), and that helps the warmth a bit but not enough for super cold weather. Great idea, but the imperfect fit and lack of insulation mostly rules this out for me.
Heat makes several liners. The liner I bought from them is the wind pro model. The Wind Pro liner fits me snugly, has excellent touch screen compatibility, great dexterity, and good grip, but by themselves are not warm enough at freezing (32F/0C). The Heat liner fits inside my Heat 2 gloves but the bulk lowers my dexterity. The Heat wind pro liner has a long cuff which helps block some air from getting up your sleeves.
Ski gloves
Ski gloves, such as from REI, are generally warm but are very thick and make it impossible to operate the camera normally.
LowePro
I've had these for a few years (https://www.amazon.com/LowePro-Photographers-Glove-L/dp/B019GXBYZG). They let the finger and thumb out, have good grip, but they are not very warm by themselves. They stretch quite a bit and I can easily fit liners in them, which makes them warm enough for a morning outing. Even lined, they give me plenty of dexterity for normal camera operations and the grip on the gear is very good. They aren't very well made... the velcro used to hold the finger and thumb covers out of the way wore out within a couple of uses, and the thumb cover doesn't stay over my thumb, but when combined with liners they work well for operating the camera.
Outdoor Research (OR)
My overall favorite glove has been my OR Windstopper fleece gloves (https://www.outdoorresearch.com/us/gloves). I have had them for years now and they are starting to wear out. I carry them in my coat pocket, and use them by default. They have a good grip and dexterity, allowing me to hand-hold the camera and operate the major controls easily. They are easy to take off and on as needed. But when the temps go well below freezing, they are not warm enough. Unfortunately, they are a bit tight when I use them in combination with a wool liner, but that combination lets my fingers last for a very cold morning outing. If I never went out when it was much below freezing, these would be my only gloves.
I became aware of a newer style from OR, the Vigor Heavyweight sensor gloves, which are supposed to be touch screen compatible. They are thinner and have similar warmth to my OR windstopper gloves, but the touchscreen aspect simply doesn't work. I tried two pairs and both had the same issue. Most of the reviews say the same thing; touchscreen doesn't work with these gloves. I recommend them if you don't need the touchscreen sensitivity. They aren't for arctic conditions of course, but work for most general uses.
I also have wool liners from Outdoor Research, which fit snugly. The OR liners originally had touch screen capability, but that has worn out. They are wool, warm, but not windproof and by themselves have poor grip, so I would never use them alone to hold a camera. The OR symbol was worn off and I can't tell which is right or left but that doesn't seem to matter. These liners fit nicely inside my LowePro and Heat2 gloves, but are a bit snug inside my OR windstopper fleece gloves.
Vallerret
Next, I tried the Vallerret Markhof Pro 2.0 photo gloves (https://us.photographygloves.com/products/vallerret-photography-glove-markhof-pro-2-0). The first finger and thumb can be uncovered as needed, which gave me the dexterity I needed to change cards and batteries without removing the gloves. The build quality is very good, and the fit is good for me. However, the insulation was too weak for my cold hands below freezing, and the holes for the finger and thumb let in the cold air. I thought it would have a flap to cover it, but these gloves simply use a hole. I was disappointed as I think the design idea is great, but the warmth just wasn't sufficient. They have a warmer pair with similar design (but better flaps to cover the finger and thumb holes), the Ipsoot, that I may try (but the price has made me skittish).
Miscellaneous brands found on Amazon
Amazon is wonderful for finding items you would never otherwise know about. I have tried several gloves I found there that have finger caps, in the hopes they'd be warm and let me have the dexterity I want with my fingertips as needed. No luck. Energetic Sky was one brand. They seemed warm but the fit wasn't good (too skinny, too long), and the finger magnets were sewn in backwards (reversed polarity so they repelled instead of held the first finger flap. I tried the Palmyth leather ice fishing gloves that look like crab claws; they are very nicely made but I found the finger caps were too difficult to put back on. Goture was another with bad fit, too long and skinny. Same for Ozero (the design is very similar to the Caiman gloves I talk about below, but didn't fit).
Kinco
I read raves about the Kinco 901 leather ski gloves. (https://kinco.com/product/901). I found them in a local store and unfortunately they didn't fit me well enough to consider them for using the camera (fingers were too long). The leather can be waterproofed. They are inexpensive compared to big name brands ($35 when I looked), and well-made, so they should be worth a look. Skiers claim to keep warm with these all day.
Caiman
A pair I tried and ended up keeping is from Caiman. (https://www.caimangloves.com/caiman-2396/) I've used them on several cold morning outings, from teens (F) to just around freezing, and remained sufficiently warm, if not always completely toasty. They are thick, but fit pretty well and have good grip and dexterity. I only have to remove them for card/battery/filter changes. My pair doesn't work with touchscreen as advertised, and I'd prefer a thinner rib knit cuff, but for $15 I can't complain. Since these gloves are warmer than my OR Windstopper gloves, they have replaced them.
Cabela's
A friend discovered and tried the Cabela's Glomitts, with GoreTex Infinium and heavy Thinsulate (https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cabelas-gore-tex-infinium-windstopper-glomitts-for-men). The design is a convertible mitten that lets the fingers and thumb be exposed as needed, very much like the Heat 2 convertible mittens, except these are much much better insulated than the Heat 2s. They are windproof when the fingers and thumb are covered, and use 320g Thinsulate on the back of the hand, with 160g on the inside. My friend raved about them so much that I decided to try a pair. They fit my short fingers well, are extremely comfortable to wear, and keep me much warmer than most other gloves. I think they are on par with the Hand Out mittens for warmth. I've been out in 0 F weather with them and stayed toasty. I've even had to vent them a bit. The palms have leather patches for good grip. They have long thick cuffs like the Hand Out mittens, which cinch down to keep the wind out. Again, I'd rather have rib knit cuffs to make it easier to fit under my jacket sleeves, but the cuffs do work to keep the wind out. I'll just come out and say it, these are now my go-to gloves when it is very cold. That said, there is still room for improvement, and I wrote my requests to Cabela's. The first con: they are hard to remove. They would benefit from pull tabs between the fingers like the Heat 2s use. The second con: they don't use magnets to keep the flaps out of the way like the Heat 2s. Instead, they have stretchy bands to stuff the flaps in. It works fine but isn't as fast or easy to use as magnets. The third con: they don't offer small sizes; if you have very small hands they won't fit you. FYI, Gore Tex Infinium is windproof, but not waterproof.
FRDM
For those times that I want to use my finger and thumb frequently with the Cabela's Glomits, I bought a pair of FRDM Vigor liners (https://frdmgear.com/products/vigor-liner). These have flaps for the first finger and thumb, so I can have a little more protection on the fingertips as needed, but still get my fingers out when I need the ultimate dexterity. They aren't super warm alone, but fit well and have good grip and dexterity. The cuffs do not stretch as well as I hoped, so they are a little bit harder to pull on vs my other liners.
