Vallerret Photography Gloves Review

I was sent a pair of Vallerret Photography gloves from one of the owners of the company who listens to our podcast and just wanted to give you all a quick review of what I thought of them.

Features

The two things that make these gloves especially suitable for photographers is: (1) Each glove has a small zippered pocket for a memory card, and (2) The gloves have cut out notches in the forefinger and the thumb so you can easily use your camera without freezing the other fingers on the hand.

The zippered pocket for the memory card is interesting, but frankly I'm not sure if I'll really ever use it.  But if it will fit a battery for my Fuji, it'll probably get a lot of use!  The Fuji's battery dies about every 4 minutes.  The pocket is nice to have and doesn't get in the way at all.

The cut outs for the two fingers on each hand are PERFECT!  I've used lots of fingerless gloves for photography, or gloves where you can remove the mitten and use the finger tips, but they never keep the hands warm enough because of the cut letting in the cold.  I like the cuts, but I like that it's only on the two fingers photographers need on these gloves.

Design

The first thing you'll notice about the gloves is that they have a really cool design that makes them stand out, but still look professional.

Usually when I buy gloves I find the thumb is weirdly long.  Maybe I have stubby thumbs?  Anyway, I was glad that these gloves have normal-length thumbs.  The large size fit my hands perfectly.

The thing I like about the gloves most is that they have neoprene on part of the gloves, which makes it weatherproof and warm, but not on the entire glove.  Neoprene doesn't breathe well at all, so if you have too much neoprene, the gloves make your hands sweat.

Criticism

The only thing I felt was missing for an expensive, premium photography glove is to make them compatible with a touch screen.  Many cameras now have touch screens and while you can definitely use the cut outs to stick your finger out easily, it'd be nice to have the option to touch the screen with the glove still on.

The only other thing about the glove that could use any change at all is the price.  It's a very expensive glove.  But, it's really nice and well made at the same time.

How to Shoot in Extreme Cold

Overall, these are excellent photography gloves.  But obviously you'll need something more substantial when shooting in extreme cold.  For that, I pair my Vallerrett photography gloves with a pair of Outdoor Research 3 finger Highcamp mittens.  These mittens are meant to be used with a liner.  I use the Vallerrett gloves as a liner.  This way I keep both gloves on for walking around, but then when I need to use the camera, I take off the mittens and just keep on the Vallerrett gloves, and then go back to the mittens when I'm done shooting.  This combo keeps your hands warm and as accessible as possible for shooting in extreme cold.

Last week in Yellowstone, I used this combo a few times and it was really nice.

Overall Thoughts

The Vallerret Photography glove is pricey, but very well made and photographers who want the premium gear will like them.  I wasn't convinced that photographers needed specialty gloves before trying them out, but now that I've used them in frozen Yellowstone for the last week, I'm really glad to have them.

You can buy the Vallerret Photography Gloves on their website.  I hope to see them on Amazon.com soon!