The invention relates to a method for operating a microscope in which excitation light is focused on, or beamed to, different points of a specimen, in which an intensity of the excitation light is point-specifically varied and in which an intensity of the light reflected by said specimen in at least one spectral range is measured point-specifically and quantitatively. The method according to the invention is characterized in that the intensity and/or a spectral composition of the excitation light beamed to a specific point of said specimen is automatically adjusted by a regulating device on the basis of information previously gained from measured data of said specimen concerning an estimated or actual intensity of the light reflected in the spectral range by said point such that an integral of the intensity of the light reflected in the spectral range by this point during a pixel dwell time is within a predefined value interval. The invention also relates to a microscope.