I have always suffered with cold hands, not least of all when standing outside photographing or filming in the winter. 

I was first introduced to the Vallerret brand when I got my first pair of Markhof Pro gloves. Back in the days of photographing dressage shows every weekend, these were an absolute godsend. As soon as the Markhof Pro v2 gloves were released, I picked myself up a pair as well. 

Now I love my Markhof Pro v2 gloves but when it’s really cold, I find myself needing a liner (the Vallerret merino liners are lovely!) but then the ability to utilise touch screens becomes more difficult and I find myself pulling gloves off with my mouth to adjust a setting far too often in the colder weather than I’d like! 

Cue the Tinden Gloves!

Firstly, I need to say a huge thank-you to Vallerret Gloves for sending me a pair to try out and review.

The Tinden gloves (Tinden means ‘peak’ in Norwegian by the way) are designed for Deep Winter according to Vallerret, and the second you put them on you can see why. I don’t want to make this a comparison between the Markhofs and the Tindens as they both serve different purposes, however I immediately felt the difference in thickness and therefore insulation between the two. My first concern was dexterity but I needn’t have worried. 

The Tinden are incredibly light and flexible and the additional thickness really made no difference at all tmy ability to hold my camera or equipment, or indeed feel for buttons etc.

All Vallerret gloves arrive beautifully packaged in a carry bag and these are no exception, coming in a nice hessian-type draw string bag with Vallerret branding. The gloves themselves are designed for the deepest, darkest winter days and frankly a UK-based photographer is unlikely to face such conditions in Kent but if you feel the cold like I do, why not go big!

The Tindens featuring overlapping ‘flip-tech’ finger caps and are made of a layered combination of primaloft insulation and 100% merino wool lining keeping your hands toasty warm all day regardless of temperature drops. 

The outer layers feature DWR fabrics and laminated membrane which keeps your hands nice and dry if the heavens open. The longer length of the glove give it a gauntlet-type styling which not only keep your wrists warm and dry but also look really smart too.

It’s all in the details

One of the things that strikes you as soon as you put these gloves on is the obvious attention to details that Vallerret has put into the design. I love the Norwegian flag on the seam of both gloves, it screams authenticity but gives them a small flash of colour too. These gloves include a carabiner to keep them together when not in use and the metal lined holes in the leather tabs show that they are definitely going to be hard wearing.

My favourite feature are the zipped pockets with weather resistant zipper. Both gloves have then pocket and these are just perfect for SD cards. One of the pockets also features a tripod screw tool on a piece of attached cord. These gloves would be fantastic without them, so the addition of this just shows how much thought the company puts into making these photography-specific.

The palm of the gloves have an amazingly grippy texture with a funky pattern on, meaning you’ll be hard pushed to drop your camera with these on. 

The goat’s leather and water-resistant polyester twill is flexible as soon as you put them gloves on meaning you don’t need to break these in at all.

The outer is completed with a suede lens-wipe over the thumb area.  

I’ve been using these gloves for a few weeks in bitterly cold weather. They’ve been out all hours of the night, in below freezing conditions and howling winds and rain, and they’ve really stood up to it all. They are comfortable, lightweight, stylish and above all, warm. I’d highly recommend these gloves to any outdoor photographer as well as any other pursuits that require dexterity and occasional access to fingers such as country sports etc.

Vallerret Photography Gloves - Highly Recommended!

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