The present invention relates to a surgical microscope (1) with a field of view (9) and comprising an optical imaging system (3) which images an inspection area (11) which is at least partially located in the field of view (9), and to a method for a gesture control of a surgical microscope (1) having an optical imaging system (3). Surgical microscopes (1) of the art have the disadvantage that an adjustment of the microscope parameters, for instance the working distance, field of view (9) or illumination mode, requires the surgeon to put down his or her surgical tools, look up from the microscopes eyepiece (5) and perform the adjustment by operating the microscope handles. Also foot switches and mouth switches where proposed, whereas those are not intuitively operated, require training and are less accurate than hand control of the microscope handles. Thus, the surgeon may lose his or her focus, is confronted with inconveniences and delays and bears an increased risk of contamination. In order to overcome the above disadvantages, the present invention provides a surgical microscope (1) which is characterized in that the surgical microscope (1) further comprises a gesture detection unit (17) for detection of a movement (65) of an object (29) such as at least one of a finger and a tool, and in that the gesture detection unit (17) is connected to the optical imaging system (3) via a signal line (76) and in that the gesture detection unit (17) is configured to output a control signal (77) via the signal line (76) to the optical imaging system (3) depending on the movement (65) of the object (29), the optical imaging system (3) being configured to alter its state depending on the control signal (77). The invention further provides a method for gesture control of the inventive surgical microscope (1).
