I’m Alex, MistDefender’s inventor. The idea for MistDefender came to me as I struggled to photograph an Icelandic waterfall, deep in a slot canyon fed by glacial runoff in late September 2018. Soaking wet, covered in mist and spray, I found myself battling to navigate my tripod, my lens, my camera settings, my heavy gloves and the assortment of lens cloths – some soaked, some covered in pocket lint – as I snapped off a series of long exposures.

As I sat in the car afterward, defrosting my numb fingers, and setting aside the lens cloths I’d dropped in the sand accidentally – it struck me there had to be a more clever approach. Over the following 24 months I experimented with fabrics, designs, and tested my idea for how to re-invent the photographer’s lens cloth in a series of harsh climates like pelting hail and wind-blown snow in Lofoten, frozen fog and slushy snowflakes in December in China, the arid dust storms and subtle grit of Wahiba Sands in Oman, even raging waterfalls in Norway above the Arctic Circle, and sea foam in Svalbard.

The result is MistDefender. There’s nothing else quite like it on the market. It’s made to be simple. To be convenient. To work in a wide range of conditions and to deliver you flexibility with peace of mind. MistDefender isn’t just for landscape, travel, and outdoor photographers – it’s also great for street photographers or vloggers on the go. I can’t wait to hear how you’ve used yours.