The present invention provides a scanning ophthalmoscope for scanning the retina of an eye and a method of scanning the retina of an eye. The ophthalmoscope (10) comprises a source of collimated light (12), a first scanning element (14), a second scanning element (16) and a scan relay device (18) having two foci (18a, 18b). The source of collimated light (12), the first and second scanning elements (14, 16) and the scan relay device (18) combine to provide a two-dimensional collimated light scan (21) from an apparent point source (19). The scanning ophthalmoscope (10) further comprises a scan transfer device (20), wherein the scan transfer device (20) has two foci (20a, 20b) and at least one vertex (20c) and the apparent point source (19) is provided at a first focus (20a) of the scan transfer device (20) and an eye (22) is accommodated at a second focus (20b) of the scan transfer device (20), and wherein the scan transfer device (20) transfers the two-dimensional collimated light scan (21) from the apparent point source (19) into the eye (22). The two foci (18a, 18b) of the scan relay device (18) and the two foci (20a, 20b) of the scan transfer device (20) define a first plane and the two foci (20a, 20b) and the at least one vertex (20c) of the scan transfer device (20) define a second plane and wherein the first and second planes are substantially parallel.
