As all nature photographers do, soon enough you’ll encounter the following problem: where to find, at a decent price, warm and water resistant closing adapted to photographic needs? Stealth Gear wanted to answer this question and launched their “Extreme Photography Suit”. I was eager to find out if they met my expectations …
It’s Thursday November 26, it’s a rainy, grey morning and temperature has dropped to 5°C. Today, my friend and I are heading to the nature reserve “Oostvaardersplassen”. We’ll stay there for a couple of days to shoot some birds. Not really shooting, but taking pictures, you know! The suit will be tested every day.
The complete “Stealth Gear Extreme Photography Suit” contains a trouser, jacket, fleece and photo vest. The suite comes also with some extra stuff. The suit doesn’t contain any gloves, but the type of gloves you prefer might be very personal. In any case Stealth Gear communicated that they will launch their gloves within a few months.
General:
This suit is especially made for nature photographers. The clothing is water-, wind- and dust resistant. The tissue has a green color and feels really nice. It’s amazing to see how little noise you produce when walking. You can easily walk through a wood without being noticed by the animals at a distance of a yard. All products are made of 100% polyester micro suede and Dupont Teflon at the outside to resist dust and water. The inside is made of TPU Lamination with more than 8033mm water proofing en 5826g/m2/24hrs.
The jacket:
The jacket is, as mentioned above, especially made for nature photographers. You’ll notice that within a few seconds after looking at the jackets. This isn’t a regular jacket! All pockets are designed to carry lenses and protect them. At the front, you’ll find 2 large pockets to carry each binocular, small reflection screen or travel guide without enlarging these pockets! When you enlarge the pockets (simply with a zipper), you’ll get 2 very large pockets to carry (each) a pro body or a 70-200 f/2.8 lens. To close the pockets (in the small- or large position), you can close them easily. More above; at chest height, you’ll find 8 more small pockets to carry more small stuff. If you want to sit down and still have a long jacket, you can open the jacket at the side with a durable zipper. At the back, you’ll find a bag: with the 2 side-zippers closed, you’ll have a 40 X45cm pocket. If you open all 3 zippers, you’ll have a long tissue so you can sit anywhere without having wet/dirty trousers. At the top, the jacket has a collar finished with a nice durable tissue. The shoulders and elbows are finished with extra tissue to protect and be more durable. At the end of each sleeve (at the height of the hands) there is an extra protection to prevent entrance of wind and or water. All zippers are made to attach a fleece and can thus be used as one thick jacket.
© Stealth Gear
© Stealth Gear
The hoods:
Within the suit, there are 2 hoods and 1 mosquito net. The standard hood is to be used when walking. The extra long hood to be used when taking pictures. This last one can even protect your camera and lens (depending on the size of the lens). The standard hood is like being a part of the jacket; with the extra long hood I’ve more a “KW feeling”. Very useful when raining, but far from elegant.
© Stealth Gear
The fleece:
As mentioned above, this fleece is made to be a part of the jacket itself. The fleece is to be attached to the jacket at the end of each sleeve, on 3 different places in the collar and at the frond with 2 durable zippers. The fleece is wind- and dust proof and feels really nice. What I mostly appreciated about it was the weight and the temperature inside the fleece. It is very light and keeps the body temperature nicely inside. When you only wear the fleece, you will only have 2 small pockets at the button of the fleece and 2 very small chest pockets.
© Stealth Gear
The photo vest:
The photo vest can be compared to an elegant body warmer adapted to nature photography, to carry a lot of small stuff and some lenses. The photo vest is made of the same tissues as the jacket and has similar protection. At the front, the photo vest is similar to the jacket described above. At the bottom of the vest you’ll find 2 large pockets (with the same function to enlarge them). Above it there are 2 small chest pockets. At the back, there’s a pocket (size 25 x 35cm!) to carry 2 pro bodies or a large lens or a notebook. Inside, you’ll discover at both sides several small pockets to carry some light stuff like a wallet or mobile phone.
© Stealth Gear
The trouser:
The trouser is, as one may expect, made especially for nature photographers and made with the same materials like all other clothing. Your knees and butt are extra protected with extra protection tissue. At the end of each sleeve – at the end of your leg, around the ankle area, you find extra protection too. At the back, there are 2 pockets as well as 2 larger pockets on the outside of each leg. At the back the trousers are made with a higher part to prevent entrance of cold wind or dust. At the top, at each side there are zippers to give more ventilation on hot summer days. To adjust the trouser to your size or hip, there are some Velcro strips on both sides that make it easy to adjust and make a perfect fit.
© Stealth Gear
Price:
The complete suit is yours for 349 euro! When you remember that we aren’t talking about 1 jacket, but a set of 4 products finished with durable products and adapted to different conditions, I think the price is very reasonable. A decent Jack Wolfskin jacket costs around 300 euro and isn’t adapted to photography. The Gitzo “Four Seasons” jacket is adapted to photography and costs 449 euro and you only have a jacket …
To buy these products:
Jacket: 189,95 euro
Fleece: 64,95 euro
Photo vest: 87,95 euro
Trousers: 64,95 euro
All products are available in S – M – L – XL – XXL
If you decide to buy one (or all) product(s), I recommend highly buying them in a store where you can try them to find the correct size. All products are sized really large – it might sound weird, but this is a great disadvantages for small photographers. I’m quite tall (1,94M) and size only medium in the jacket and fleece!
© Stealth Gear
Conclusion:
Stealth Gear has succeeded to produce a suite with all very durable clothing nicely adapted to photography and at a reasonable price. You’ll notice that these products aren’t just made by some office guys, but a team of nature photographers must have assisted the designer crew! Personally I like the jacket and fleece combination the most. The trouser fits nicely too. The Photo vest isn’t used a lot.
The only disadvantage I could find, are the sizes. These are really big! Many smaller sized photographers will not be able to find their size. I would recommend launching a X small and XX small. More information can be found HERE.
Best regards,
Sven Michiels
