Color vision are mixed together or diluted with white light, the number of distinguishable chromaticities can be quite high. In very low light levels, vision is scotopic: light is detected by rod cells of the retina. Rods are maximally sensitive to wavelengths near 500 nm, and play little, if any, role in colour vision. In brighter light, such as daylight, vision is photopic: light is detected by cone cells which are responsible for colour vision. Cones are sensitive to a range of wavelengths, but are most sensitive to wavelengths near 555 nm. Between these regions, mesopic vision comes into play and both
Intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells able to isomerize "all-trans-"retinal into "11-cis-"retinal when stimulated with light without help from additional cells. The two isoforms of melanopsin differ in their spectral sensitivity, for the "11-cis"-retinal isoform is more responsive to shorter wavelengths of light, while the "all-trans" isoform is more responsive to longer wavelengths of light. ipRGCs are both pre- and postsynaptic to dopaminergic amacrine cells (DA cells) via reciprocal synapses, with ipRGCs sending excitatory signals to the DA cells and the DA cells sending inhibitory signals to the ipRGCs. These inhibitory signals are mediated through GABA which is co-released from the DA cells along with dopamine.