Surveying apparatus such as, for example, a video theodolite or video tachymeter, is disclosed. In some embodiments, the surveying apparatus may include a base, a support pivotable about a first axis relative to the base, a targeting unit pivotable about a second axis relative to the support and comprising a telescope optical unit comprising at least one objective and a motorized-adjustable focusing optical unit and also an eyepiece and/or a camera chip for recording an image through the objective, goniometers for measuring pivoting positions of the support and the targeting unit, an electro-optical distance measuring device, an evaluation and control unit, which provides a calibrated autofocusing functionality for automatically setting the focusing optical unit in a manner dependent on a target distance measured by the distance measuring device and contains for this stored calibration coefficients with regard to focusing optical unit positions to be set in a target-distance-dependent manner.