An apparatus for determining a propagation velocity for a surface wave comprises a coherent light source (105) for generating at least a first and a second light spot on a surface (103). A camera (111) captures at least one out-of-focus image of at least a part of the surface (103) comprising the light spots. The out-of-focus image comprises light spot image objects for the light spots where the light spot image objects have speckle patterns. An analyzer (113) determines the propagation velocity in response to a time difference between speckle pattern changes in the two speckle patterns. The camera may specifically use a rolling shutter allowing the determination of the propagation velocity to be based on a spatial analysis of the speckle patterns. The approach may in particular allow an efficient remote measuring of pulse wave velocities e.g. in animal tissue and in particular, in human tissue.