Kraken review and photos

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Kraken housing to use with my iPhone X. My previous setup was a GoPro Hero 4 with red filters, but I'm really more of a stills photographer not a video guy.

So, here's a short review, first impressions, with a couple of photos.

The Kraken housing feels very solid, looks like machined aluminum. This is a serious looking piece of gear, much more solid than the low cost plastic housings for compact cameras. Also, while not as deep, it is surprisingly large in width and height.

The operation is very straightforward, and inspires confidence.

-Once you add 2x AA batteries, a power light comes on.

-Fire up the Dive+ app, and connect your phone using bluetooth. (tip, don't go into settings and connect to bluetooth, or the app seems to not pair properly; whereas, unlike many other apps, just go into the app and connects right away)

-put your phone into the housing; it's universal, with more room than I think even the largest phone may need (my iPhone X had about an extra inch in width and about 1.5" in clearance for length)

-close the housing, with a very solid twist connector with a latch clip

-use the included pump by removing a twist connector on the front, and sucking out excess air until the housing lights stop flashing red/green to solid green.

Ready to use!

In use, I find this to work amazingly well. Your phone stays on, ready to use and there is a big button for the shutter. Other buttons on the back are easy to learn. You can easily switch from stills to video, zoom in or out, adjust brightness, white balance, exposure, etc, etc.

Only complaint on the back buttons is that the top one switches from Auto Focus to Manual. If you press, only a brief message flashes up, and on one dive I didn't notice that I dove much of the dive in manual focus, so guess how many images I got from that dive?

BTW, typical 2 dives over a 2-3 hour period used about 60% of my phone battery.

Results? Here are a couple of good photos. I won't pretend to say that it will keep up with larger rigs, it is just a cell phone camera. But, for me, I am very happy with the results, the ergonomics, and the fact that I see this as a much more future proof housing than other choices.

Oh, and the Dive+ app is really good at one touch colour correction. It's free, so even if you use other cameras, it can do great things to jpgs.

First photo is from Cozumel...

Grouper in Cozumel

Second is from the Cenotes near Playa Del Carmen

Dive Master in Cenotes

Hope the above is helpful to anyone considering this housing!