Which hat?

Just wondering what the best type of hat is for photography?

 

Being big (6' 7") I'm keen to avoid having anything that's going to make me stand out more than I do already, but

being bald a hat is usually an essential requirement. I do like hats and used to wear a Stetson when I was living in

Switzerland which was a great hat but awful for photography, being back in the UK I tend to shy away from wearing a

larger hat (oh, bring back the days of old when a hat was normal attire!).

 

I've been wearing a baseball style hat but the continual reversing the thing for when I shoot is annoying and I do fear

that sometimes I look a bit of an arse with my hat on backwards. After losing my trusty old cap before a resent

festival I was forced to invest in a replacement, I ended up buying a khaki military floppy hat style thingy which does

the job rather well and folds up easily enough to be stuffed into my camera bag

 

I am keen to find a suitable hat that I shoot with and can stick with. Ideally something that I can also get away with

wearing on a day to day basis (especially during the colder months) - any suggestions?

Baseball type caps -- at least for you and me -- have to be rotated because the solid brim gets in the way when the camera is lifted to the eye. I have done that but like you, kind of get tired of it.

 

Now I generally use a floppy style like you have. Not the purdiest but it does provide head protection and doesn't have to be rotated.

 

If I am going to be out in the sun for a long time, I prefer a hat with a larger soft style brim. This hat usually has to be titled back a little but it provdes better protection.

 

And finally, if it is really cold outside, I just use a wool cap. Good protection over the ears, no brim to get in the way, and very easily folds up for storage.

 

Obviously this is a personal choice thing. Maybe you can go into a shop and try out some of their hats to see what works best for you.

Wide brimmed hat tend to get in the way, at least for me, but since I have to wear a hat to avoid sunburn, I tend to wear a roll-up crusher with a leather chin strap. I can slip it over my back when I need to get under the dark cloth, and I can fold the front brim up temporarily if I am using a smaller camera. It's decent enough to wear around, although it does get warm in the summer. I'm not sure if I could get by with only one hat though - I'm tend to wear lightweight caps in the summer, and heavier hats in the winter. And then there's more and less formal hats, etc. You might consider something like a Tribly or a short brimmed Fedora, which could be tilted back for shooting to keep the front brim out of the way, and then tilted back when you're done. Bowlers are kind of out of fashion these days I'm afraid, but something like an Ivy cap or 8 panel (newsboy) would have a shorter brim than a baseball cap (and have far, far more style) which might allow you to shoot them them on...

 

Remember, a gent without a lid isn't worth talking to...

 

- Randy

A hat serves to keep the sun out of your eyes, considering that sun glasses are completely impractical when shooting. Most of the time I wear a baseball cap and just turn it backwards - I could care less how it looks. Flat "driving" caps also work, but even the short brim gets in the way unless reversed (making it look like a beret). For extended exposure to hot sun, I wear a bush type hat with a full, soft brim - you can't turn it out of the way if the brim goes all the way around. Out west, I have a favorite Stetson with a soft brim. A strap is important unless you like to chase an hat as it cartwheels across the desert.

I wear a military style "boonie hat" It is soft, can be rolled up, and shades my delicate brow ( no, not so much). If its cold, I wear a watch cap (military style knit cap).

I live in south Florida so cold weather is not an issue for me, but heat and exposure to the sun are important. So are comfort

and the rainy season. Anyway, hats are a necessity here. I found a store called BELLS which sells a line of clothing and hats

by COLUMBIA. They make a nylon or polyester brimmed hat which is perfect for me. It has a neck strap for the wind or which

I simply tuck into the hat itself. There are ventilation holes on the crown and the whole thing crumples up into a tiny package. I

got 2 khaki colored ones----(keep one in each car). Good for shooting, the beach, or just walking outside. I'd suggest you

check them out-----good shooting-----Jerry

I'm with Bruce and Emmett. Broad-brimmed cheap canvas hat from Dorfman Pacific in the summer-- it's big enough

to shield my face and neck, and my ears don't burn like they do with a ball cap. Doesn't get in the way of my

photography with any camera. In the winter, a watch cap: usually Polarfleece, but navy wool for weddings and

funerals.

Some people are probably thinking: "Now they are discussion HATS in this forum!?"

 

But, seriously, many photographers do spend a lot of time outdoors and a hat is a serious piece of gear. I just finished a

9 day backpack trip across the southern Sierra Nevada where a hat is critical.

 

When I'm out and about on that sort of trek I wear a had with a very large brim that comes down low in back. (It is from a

company called "Nordic Wear," IIRC.) I agree that these hats interfere with shooting a bit less than the stiff brim

baseball-style caps and they provide significantly more sun protection. The particular hat I use has an adjustable chin

strap. This lets me just flop the hat off my head onto my back if it interferes with shooting.

 

As good as this had is, I'd look like a total dweeb wearing it in urban settings. There I do tend to go with something like

the local baseball team's hat. (Go Giants! Sigh...) And deal with the had reversal business for vertical format shots.

 

Dan

I like a painter's cap, like a baseball hat but lighter, not open at back, and shorter bill. It's easier to turn around when shooting. I have a few of them tossed into cars and the like, to fend off bugs and sun. For winter, as others suggest, a fleece watch cap is hard to beat.

Best photography hats are dark colored, so's not to add fogging when you use it as a shutter with those barrel lenses...

I wear a wide-brimmed Tilley hat for protection from the sun. It has snaps to snap up either side. When actually photographing, as opposed to just hiking to a site, I snap up one side and rotate the snapped up side to the front for no camera interference. When done, I just rotate the hat back, unsnap the side and go on my way.

I wear a "bucket" style, two inch brim sufficient to keep nose and ears un-sunburnt, and easily rolled up and pocketed. Lost two baseball caps in the wind when I bent to look with camera on tripod, and they popped off, (same place, Santa Cruz at the surfing museum, think I woulda learnt). Also, where I was raised, the backward baseball cap was the sign of the "goober"

 

The "buckets" are also called "club" hats in golf shops, and are usually cheap, and is a "real" hat for day to day wear. For colder months, LLBean and others make them in tweed.

 

The GI "booney" hats, and Tilleys, are a bit big and floppy-brimmed, but very good.

I also like the Tilley hat. Mine is of hemp, which is quite comfortable in the heat. The brim is wide enough to keep the sun off my ears, nose and back of my neck and the hat does a fine job protecting my early rain detector / bald spot. Wore one a lot when I was living in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. I find the brim pushes up easily when I bring the camera to my eye.

 

See the following for what they offer.

 

www.tilley.com

The boonie type hat was originally introduced by British Commonwealth Armed Forces and was adopted by the U.S.

Armed Forces. It is a great hat for photography and can be found in many different colors. I don't really like roaming

city streets in a camoflage pattern hat- a solid color tan, green, gray or brown is more to my tastes.

http://www.uscav.com/ProductInfo.aspx?

productid=8636&utm_medium=shoppingengine&utm_source=googlebase&cm_mmc=Google%20Base-_-Products-_-

SF-_-V1

To me, the choice of hats depends on the lens used: with a long lens I prefer baseball caps (the size of the visor is

irrelevant) but for shooting handheld with a "normal" lens my choice is either a chauffeur cap (in noble black), a "flat

cap"(which seems to be fashionable now), a bucket hat (sort of a smaller version of an Australian bush hat) or just

about anything, including a black bowler (paired with khaki shorts and sandals makes quite a fashion statement...)

In other words - go ape with hats!

<br>

Have you considered a beret (for that HCB look) ?

<br>:-)

A beret. Dont need to keep turning it around. That is a royal pain. ( Sorry, American humor) Helps prevents missed shots. If need eye shade can pull from the jaunty, side position to over the eyes similar to a snap brim hat. The camera will crush it back enough when you use the viewfinder in that position. Because crushable, they can be kept in the bag as added protection for lenses etc. Wool keeps the head warm in winter (or UK cold) and some are waterproof. Cotton great for summer and is sun protection for we follically challenged. Multi task as flexible lcd shade in bright sun light. Magnifique. Should be somewhat a low profile, common hat there being so close to Europe.

My vote is for the Tilley. My current favorite is their model made of hemp. It's softer than the cotton.. a little lighter weight, and easy to roll up, crush, or whatever. They are made to be laundered, too. You can shop them for brim sizes.. I don't recall which model my hemp one is, but it is a little longer in the back. Can't be beat for sun protection! the snap-up brim on the side is a good feature, but I find I never use it. I am curious.. what did you choose?