Kraken LTD 7000 Underwater Video Light Review

The Kraken LTD 7000 is an underwater video light designed to make you hit that "add to cart" button. As with other lights in Kraken's LTD line-up, the Kraken 7000 has been stripped of all extraneous features to provide a powerful, high-quality white beam for an incredible list price of $499 at Bluewater Photo. 

Unlike Kraken's hydra line of lights, the Kraken 7000 is not equipped with colored RGB lights. In exchange, the Kraken 7000 LTD offers 3000 lumens more power than the Kraken 4000 for the same price. The LTD 7000 features a 7000 lumen beam, a 100 degree beam angle, a CRI rating of 90, and a 15 degree spot beam that can be used as a focus light. The light provides creatives with a beautiful white beam to bring back colors and details in their underwater videos. We had the opportunity to dive with the Kraken 7000 in the murky El Nino waters of the Galapagos. Though the dive conditions were not the best, the Kraken 7000 shined the way forward. Check out our sample underwater video footage below.

Kraken LTD 7000 Specifications

• 7000 lumen flood beam (100 degrees)
• 1500 lumen spot beam (15 degrees)
• 45 minute burn time at 100% power
• CRI rating of 90
• Depth rating: 330 ft/100m
• 3 button controls with battery level indicator
• Weight on land: 702 grams
• Weight underwater: 360 grams

Key Features

Wide, Accurate White Beam

The Kraken 7000 is a simple light and the beam is a defining feature. The light outputs 7000 lumens which is plenty of light for macro video and enough light for a lot of wide angle video. While we still might recommend more light in shallow situations with a lot of ambient light, the Kraken 7000 should suffice in a lot of situations. We found that it did a good job of illuminating the many green sea turtles we found in the Galapagos. And the colors were accurate too! This is, in part, due to the high CRI (color rendering index) rating of 90. 

We found the beam angle of 100 degrees on the flood beam to be enough for most shooting situations as well. With a fisheye lens, it might be nice to have two lights to cover the full field of view. But with most other lenses you could probably get away with one. With macro lenses, one light is more than enough, but having two is nice for creative effects. 

Spot Beam for Focusing

Because the Kraken 7000 is relatively compact, it can do a good job doubling as a focus light. With a 15 degree spot beam, it's easy to point the narrower spot beam at subjects you want to focus at. Photography was our primary goal in the Galapagos, so we ended up using the 7000 more often to help our Canon EOS R8 to focus on subjects.

High-Quality Aluminum Build & Battery Life

The one downside of the Kraken LTD 7000 is a less than usual battery life of 45 minutes. The Kraken 7000 uses the same battery that is found on the Kraken 4000 and 6000 hydra lights. A higher output reduced the battery life at full power by about 15 minutes. However, it is easy to extend the battery life by only using full power when you need it in your video. When you aren't filming, if you reduce the power of the video light, you can extend your burn time significantly. With a single battery the light lasts about 1-2 hours. We do recommend purchasing an extra battery if you plan to do multiple dives with the light. 

The build quality of the Kraken LTD 7000 is incredible. The light anodized aluminum and after a month of diving with it, it didn't suffer a scratch. The Kraken 7000 is depth rated to 100 meters and the beam is controlled via a three-button panel. We thought the control buttons are a big improvement from the original two button Kraken design. The buttons are surrounded by an LED battery life indicator that provides you with a rough estimate of the battery life remaining. Finally, the battery compartment is fully sealed from the light head. If you do experience a flood, which is unlikely due to the dual oring design, then you just need to clean out the light and replace the battery. The light head should work. 

Conclusions

This may not be a long review, but that's the point. The Kraken LTD 7000 is designed to provide the best quality beam of light with the highest lumen to price ratio possible. 7000 lumens is a perfect mid-range output for both macro and wide angle video. Because the light also has a spot beam, it's also an ideal light for hybrid underwater photo and video shooters who want to replace their focus light with a video-capable light. So if you don't need all the RGB features available in the hydra line of lights, the Kraken LTD is an excellent choice for the budget conscious.