Freehands Photography Gloves
Good for mild weather, bad for cold.
How to Dress for Cold Weather Photography
Ok, enough technology talk, let’s talk underwear. One word for outdoor photography: dress warmly. Like DUH! I wear wool ski socks up to my knees, silk long underwear top and bottoms, jeans, snow boots, a heavy turtleneck sweater so I can flip up the collar, a winter down coat, a cool Eastern Mountain cap thingy that goes down over my ears, and a scarf. For gloves… Freehands! (As long as it not too cold.)
Freehands are groovy gloves that are comfortable and allow your finger and thumbs to pop out and manage your camera. The palm and fingers have little silicone grippers, and the finger has some strange material that will actually operate the touch screen on a smart phone.
The Good and Bad on Freehands
These things are just OK. Very functional but they have some issues. Here is what I don’t like about them:
1 – The finger and thumb covers are just not insulated. I don’t know if that lost-in-space-like material that interacts with smart phones is the issue, but the tips of my forefinger and thumb get really cold! This should not be.
2 – The space age finger material for smart phone contact is unraveling… getting fuzzy. I don’t know if they are coming apart or not, but it worries me.
3 – The silicone nubs on the palms and fingers for gripping… doesn’t. Maybe it is providing some grippage but put it this way, it is not confidence inspiring.
What a disappointment for what could be a great product. So, I also wear thin poly-material glove liners and it helps. The thin liner does not interfere at all with camera operation.
Overall, these gloves work so I do recommend them but only in mildly cold weather and with a liner. You shouldn’t have to wear a liner but the gloves are so darn functional that I do use them. In 40 to 50 degree weather, I wore them all day standing around shooting eagles and they worked great. Then I wore these gloves out to Barnegat Jetty in January when the temperature was around 30 degrees and with a wind. My hands froze and I was not happy. Not good. Freehands are not for really cold environments.
