VERSIONE IN ITALIANO QUI
Gloves are an extremely useful accessory for any landscape photographer, especially if you, like me, love all those places beaten by the wind with a slightly inhospitable climate.
Ideally a pair of gloves for use in the field should provide adequate thermal protection and ease of movement at the same time, so that you can easily use all your photographic equipment. In my specific case, being able to easily change the filters mounted on my camera without risking dropping them is absolutely essential.
So, I was extremely happy to have the opportunity to try Vallerret’s gloves, especially the Markhof V3 model, which has a particular feature that allows to discover only the thumb and index fingers through a magnet mechanism.
Flip-tech fingertips
Thanks to this feature the gloves are easily usable for adjusting the controls of the machine and for changing the filters, which, personally, I have always found a very uncomfortable operation to do with gloves on. Having the opportunity to discover only the tip of two fingers for each hand I had great freedom of movement without cooling my hands.
The operation is quite simple in itself; the end of the thumb and index fingers move like a cap but remain attached to the rest of the glove through a double magnet mechanism so as not to have any parts that move. You can of course decide for yourself which and how many fingers to leave uncovered.
I find this feature incredibly useful for all people who, like me, just can’t find comfortable using the controls of the machine with gloves on, even with thin liners. This way you avoid taking off and put on the glove every time you must do delicate operations such as, change filters that risk breaking.
Markhof V3; all the features
As for the other characteristics of this model, these gloves have a medium thermal protection, that is to say they are designed for mid-winter or at least for winter climates not too rigid (I would not use them for an expedition in the arctic). I personally used them in Slovenia, on the Italian Alps and on the coast of Sardinia, always in a period between early November and late January and I never had cold hands. Specifically, the inner lining is merino wool while the outer is leather with insulation in Thinsulate.
I also found very comfortable the elastic cuff in jersey that allows to maintain the grip with the wrist without having infiltration of wind, water or any other atmospheric agent.
On the palm of the gloves there is a non-slip pattern that allows you to hold any object firmly without risking losing grip and dropping something.
There is also a pocket on the back of your hand containing a tripod key that can also be used to keep cleaning cloths, SD cards and other small items handy.
Another feature that I appreciated about these gloves (and the whole company in general) is the attention to women photographers; the Markhof V3 glove is unisex but it is available in two sizes designed for small hands, the XS Slim and the S Slim, I took the latter and it fits me really well, unlike many photographic gloves of which I found uncomfortable even the smaller sizes because designed for larger hands and thus being unpractical.
Why I chose to collaborate with Vallerret
Of Vallerret I particularly appreciated the attention to the environment with several projects, including the gift of a tree through Tree-nation with every purchase or the decision to donate 1% of all their annual income to support environmental organizations.
You can find all their commitments to the environment in the section Sustainability of their site.
As a female photographer I also appreciated the commitment to meet women’s needs in terms of equipment by creating sizes for our hands. On their blog you can also find an interesting article about women in the world of photography.
Conclusions
I really appreciated the versatility of these gloves, which allowed me to keep my hands warm and at the same time shoot with maximum comfort. They are definitely a product that I recommend to anyone looking for gloves that allow maximum freedom of movement without giving up a warm layer.
As for comfort temperature I would recommend them for all uses up to zero degrees, but they can also be safely combined with liners for colder temperatures (or for a lower tolerance to cold and wind).
Valentina Parente 