Vallerret Skadi Zipper Mitt PSP Angela Nicholson
tries these clever zip-open mittens specially designed for photographers
l €109.95 (around £91.95) l photographygloves.com
IT DOESN’T take long for a biting winter wind to make your fingers feel like blocks of ice when you’re holding a camera. While good gloves can help, mittens are a much better way of keeping your digits toasty. The only problem is that standard mittens are very restrictive, so you can’t adjust the camera settings or even press the shutter release easily. Vallerret’s Skadi Zipper Mitts PSPs, however, are far from standard mittens, because they have a zip around the tip of the finger section to open the mitt and let you get your fingers onto your camera.
The zip can be opened to free your fingers while still giving them some shelter, or alternatively the mitt can be pulled back and held back by snapping the popper fixing for greater freedom. There’s also a magnet to hold back the flip-top thumb covering while you use the camera.
If it’s very cold, the mitts can be worn with the supplied Polartec Power Stretch Pro inner gloves. These are thin enough to give you the dexterity you need to take control of your camera, but warm and windproof enough to keep the worst of the cold at bay while you’re shooting.
Vallerret offers the Skadi Mitts in five sizes and two colour ways (black or black and brown). But because you open the mitt to use the camera, the fit isn’t quite as critical as it is with the company’s photography gloves, which have flip-back forefinger and thumb tips.
Both mitts have a loop that you can slip your hand through so that if you need to pull the mitt off, it can hang from your wrist and you don’t need to stuff it into a pocket. There are also zip-close pockets that are designed to hold a memory card. But more usefully, one houses a key to tighten or loosen a tripod quick-release plate, saving you from hunting around for a coin.
Verdict
If you’re used to wearing conventional gloves, it can take a while to feel comfortable with wearing mittens and having all your fingers in one section. But it’s surprising how much warmer they are instead of gloves. I’ve worn the Skadi Zipper Mitts without liners in -9°C and who-knows-what windchill in the Alps and felt comfortable throughout. They’re a great choice for cold and windy conditions provided that you don’t have to handle something wet like ski or walking poles, as then water can start to seep in and your fingers get cold.