The present invention provides a surveying instrument provided with a tracking function, said surveying instrument comprising a first image
pickup means 40 with a first
solid image
pickup element 33, a second image
pickup means 37 with a second
solid image pickup element 19, an image pickup control instrument for controlling image pickup conditions of said first image pickup means and said second image pickup means, and a
control unit for controlling the tracking operation of a target 36 based on a target
image signal obtained at the first
solid image pickup element or based on a target
image signal obtained at the second solid image pickup element, wherein the first image pickup means can acquire an image in wider range by said second image pickup means, and wherein the image pickup control instrument controls so that a target image is acquired by the first image pickup means when the target image is out of a
photodetection range of the target of the second solid image pickup element and controls so that the target image is acquired by the second image pickup means when the target image detected by the first solid image pickup element is within the predetermined range.