Circadian rhythms are entrained to the natural day:night cycle. Melanopsin expressed in retinal ganglion cells partially accounts for circadian photoentrainment. Dkhissi-Benyahya et al. demonstrate that medium wavelength opsin (MW-opsin) also plays an important role in the process. Furthermore, they develop a model explaining wavelength-dependent photoentrainment by melanopsin and MW-opsin.