The invention concerns a doublet system for a microscope, with one lens (25) being provided for focusing object illumination onto an object point, and one lens (33) for collecting light emitted by the object point. The optical axes of the two lens systems (25, 33) are at a slant to one another, so that the direction of observation and the direction of illumination are at an angle to one another. The two lens systems (25, 33) are grouped together into a doublet unit (1) on a joint holder (3); light can be supplied to this unit from an object illumination source, through a light aperture (5). A light deflection system (19, 21, 23, 37, 39) is also provided, which distorts the illumination path (35) and/or the observation path (35) in such a way that the observation light coming from the observation lens (33) leaves the doublet unit (1) through the light aperture (5). Thus the doublet unit can be employed in a conventional microscope design.