The photo vest is dead! Long live this stylish alternative for carrying camera essentials

Nothing screams "old" like the photo vest. Those khaki sleeveless jackets that go with beards and sunhats. There’s a whole section of the photo population that love these; they’re not on safari, they could be shooting flowers in the park, but they’re definitely dressed like they are. You might have seen them at your camera club. 

Back in the day, when you had different rolls of film with you, filters to change the white balance of your film and even batteries, the pockets were handy. 

Now, in the digital age, you don’t quite need these multi-pocketed garments. Cameras are smaller, lenses are smaller and SD cards take no room at all. So the need for pockets upon pockets are gone and photo vests are relegated to fashion faux pas. 

But hang on a minute, some pockets would still be useful. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer not to have spare batteries in my trouser pants – or SD cards even. Busy shoots can get a little heated and I’d prefer not to deal with sweat.

Even if I’m out and about with my X100VI compact camera, I still like to have the TCL teleconverter and WCL wide-angle adaptor to hand should I need them. 

Surely there has to be a solution that won’t have the blue flashing lights of the fashion police hunting us down? Well, there is – and not only that, it’s handy should you require some kind of branding. 

It’s the bodywarmer, or the gilet if you’re French. You can go for soft shells or anything you like, but my favorite is the Regatta Professional Flux bodywarmer. 

Puffer-style bodywarmers often have weak pockets, but this one doesn’t. You get two normal zipped pockets, a zipped chest pocket and two large inner pockets. It’s water-repellent and warm. It’s comfortable and best of all, it looks great. 

Now, this is not a Regatta ad. You can buy any brand you like – but once you’ve seen one, you’ll understand why I went for that one. They also get used by professional branding companies. I’m Ireland-based, so companies like tees.ie can put your own branding on them. 

So have no fear. If you need pockets and want to look good, a good bodywarmer can be your photo vest in disguise. 

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By all means take a look at the best photo vests, along with the best jackets for photographers and best gloves for photographers.