There has been a lot of talk and reviews about the Light and Motion Sola light as of late. This review will concentrate on the red light feature found on the Sola 600.

The notion that red light would work very well for shy creatures has been around for some time. My first meeting with this was about ten years ago photographing mandarin fish. Attaching red filters on our torches seemed to help in getting them to come out for some late evening romance. In theory though most fish should not be prime subjects for red light as most shallow water species possess cones to see a full spectrum of color.

For some time now I had been looking for a new spotting light, preferably one that could double as a macro video light also. As the first favorable reports came out about the Sola, I sprung for a couple of these lights in mid September. It dawned on me shortly thereafter, remembering from writing a story on our local cuttlefish and octopi, that most chephalopods are colorblind thus being prime candidates for a red test.

Of course thats what that red light is for, no more squinting eyes!? Eager, I went diving and to my amazement, it worked!

Right Top: A very faint light hits the eye of this squid sitting in a shell on the bottom. Notice how its squinting its eye. Perhaps not so strange for a night active predator? Sola 600 on white light minimum burn.

Right Bottom: A few minutes later the same squid had gotten tired of all that bright light and took of for a swim before seteling down again. I switched to red light and although he still wanted to avoid me (noisy me) it´s eye was now wide open. I would see a retraction of the pupil following a flash but nothing that would show up in the images. With the right angle on he strobes and red light it was a breeze capturing these sparkling eyes!