Disclosed is a method for varying the size of the scanning field of a multifocal laser scanning microscope, said scanning field being scanned in X columns and Y lines, and n laser spots being arranged at a distance d from one another in the scanning field along the slow scanning axis in the sample plane, the distance between the scanned lines in the sample plane being a=d/K, where KεN, the size of the scanning field being varied by varying K. After scanning K lines, a vertical skip is made, e.g. a skip of (n−1)×K+1 lines in the scanning direction or (n+1)×K−1 lines against the scanning direction until at least Y lines have been scanned.