A medical imaging apparatus is designed to acquire medical imaging data of a patient during a medical imaging examination and has a medical data acquisition scanner, which has a patient reception area at least partially enclosed by the scanner, inside of which a body area of a patient for examination is situated during the medical imaging examination. A positioning unit has a projector and at least one positioning surface situated inside the patient reception area. The projector is designed to project at least one item of anatomical information onto the at least one positioning surface inside the patient reception area.