A miniature microscope objective for a miniature microscope array (MMA) includes preferably at least three or four lenses including from object to image a first positive lens, a second positive lens and a third negative lens. The objective has a numerical aperture (NA) that provides diffraction limited performance, and is preferably between 0.4 and 0.9 for the four lens design. The magnification of the objective is below approximately the outer diameter (OD) divided by the field of view (FOV), and is preferably between approximately 1 and 12, and is further preferably greater than 4. The ratio of magnification (M) to numerical aperture (NA) for the objective thereby has a magnitude that is less than substantially 30.