Kraken 1000 FE Focus Light Review - With Snoot & Color Filters
December 17th, 2021
Kraken 1000 FE Focus Light Review - With Snoot & Color Filters
Order a Kraken 1000 FE Focus Light at Bluewater Photo:
Kraken 1000 FE Focus Light, Optical Condensor, Snoot, & Color Filters
Order an Ultralight Video Light Tripod at Bluewater Photo (to help keep your light stable):
Overview Video
Kraken 1000 FE Focus Light Key Features:
- 1000 lumens output
- 5500K color temperature
- 100 degree beam angle
- 85 minute burn time at full power
- Single button control
- Flood and Red beam modes with power level control
- SOS mode
- Burst mode up to 1500 lumens
- Depth rated to 330 ft
Kraken 1000 FE as a Focus Light
The Kraken 1000 FE is an extremely compact and sturdy light - designed with a hard aluminum body and sealed with a double o-ring. You won't need to worry about flooding this light, even in the harshest of conditions. It also comes with a YS-mount, but the ball is sold separately. As a focus light, the Kraken 1000 FE is very simple. It has a single button control. At a max power of 1000 lumens, the flood light is just perfect for focusing your camera on a subject, without having the light get in your photo. If you want to sneak up on a subject, switch the light to red mode. Your camera should be able to focus almost as easily and most fish can't see red light underwater. This is a great feature for night dives and we use it extensively.
Photo captured using Kraken 1000 FE
Burst Mode
You can connect your Kraken 1000FE to your camera via a fiber optic cable. When you set the light to burst mode it will output 1500 lumens which can be used as a "strobe" to supplement your macro photography. It is not nearly as powerful as a strobe however and should only be used in a pinch - not just for photography.
Kraken 1000 FE Optical Condenser
If you want to take the Kraken 1000 FE to the next level and use it as a creative tool, then you'll need the optical condenser. This condenser uses optical lenses to focus the light into a higher lux (lumens per square meter). This will make the light beam stronger and narrower - perfect for black background photo & video as well as colorful back lighting.
Kraken 1000 FE as a Snoot
After screwing on the optical condenser, we attached a snoot to the front of our light. The snoot attachment focused the light into an extremely bright, small beam allowing it to light subjects with very high contrast to the background. The beam was surprisingly bright and it was very easy to produce dramatic black background photos and videos with the snoot accessory. We really enjoyed the quality and color temperature of the beam and the images they produced (as you can see below).
A shrimp snooted with the Kraken 1000 FE and optical condenser
A nudibranch snooted with the Kraken 1000 FE and optical condenser
Kraken 1000 FE For Creative Photography (and Video)
One of the most interesting features of the Kraken 1000 FE is that you can screw on colored filters onto the front of the optical condenser. These filters can flip in and out allowing you to switch colors with ease or just use the normal white light. You can also combine filters for different colors. We like to use the filers to backlight subjects and highlight backgrounds in our photos with different colors. The filters can also work well in conjunction with a strobe to accent the edges of your subject. For underwater video, these filters have slightly less use, unless you want to use the light as a secondary light to accentuate backgrounds with different colors.
An octopus photographed with Kraken 1000 FE without color filters
An octopus photographed with Kraken 1000 FE and a blue color filter (backlighting)
An octopus photographed with Kraken 1000 FE and a purple color filter (subject accents)
Using the Kraken 1000 FE with color filters for back lighting. Unfortunately the face of this fish was hidden by a barnacle.
Need An Easier Way to Shoot Snoot Video? Check out our new Ultralight Video Light Tripod!
It can be extremely frustrating shooting snooted macro video. You need to line up a small beam of light with an even smaller subject in a moving ocean. One of the trickiest aspects of snoot video is that you are moving slightly and continuously, and therefore your mounted light source is too. So if you want to capture underwater video without your light source moving, we recommend using our new ultralight video light tripod. You can mount your snoot light to the tripod and leave it pointed at your subject, allowing you to move freely and not worry about the subject being properly lit!
Order a Kraken 1000 FE Focus Light at Bluewater Photo:
Kraken 1000 FE Focus Light, Optical Condensor, Snoot, & Color Filters
Order an Ultralight Video Light Tripod at Bluewater Photo (to help keep your light stable):
Conclusions
The Kraken 1000 FE focus light & snoot/color filter package is an extremely compact but versatile tool. We were pleasantly surprised with how powerful the beam was when using the optical condenser, despite the light only outputting 1000 lumens. It is worth noting that 1000 lumens are the perfect power for a focus light as you won't see the light in your images, but it's enough to help your camera focus. As a focus light, this light performs as any light should. But it really shines by expanding creative horizons by adding a dash of color and a dollop of snoot-y drama.
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