The invention relates to a surgical lamp for illuminating an operating area, including: a number of individual lamps which, in an activated state, form a light beam bundle generating a light field region in an illumination plane wherein a total light field is formed, a brightness detection device to determine an actual brightness value in the total light field, as well as a control unit which acts on the individual lamps such that the illumination intensity is controlled in accordance with the determined actual brightness value, wherein the brightness detection device and the control unit are designed such that an illumination intensity of a first individual lamp can be set in a targeted manner depending on the actual brightness value and same can be set for brightening or dimming a first light field region independently of an illumination intensity of a second individual light.
