A distance measuring method for detecting the spatial dimension of at least one target by at least one emission of a multiplicity of light pulses, in particular laser light, towards the target, detecting the light pulse scattered back by the target by means of a multiplicity of distance measuring pixels and eliminating the distance to the target for each pixel, wherein each light pulse can be detected within a measuring interval Ti from at least two partial intervals tij and the detection of at least one repetition constitutes a detection step performed in at least two stages wherein the measuring interval T˜ is shortened from stage to stage.