An apparatus for reading a flat radiation reflecting record carrier on which information is recorded in an optically readable structure, comprising at least three radiation sensitive detectors, a radiation source, lens means for projecting the light from said radiation source to said record carrier and for projecting the light reflected from said record carrier to said radiation sensitive detectors along at least three different angularly separated paths, each path having a separate path axis that is angularly separated from the path axes of the other paths, said path axes being defined as the real center lines of the radiation along the three paths impinging on the radiation sensitive detectors and projections of the real center lines through each element of the apparatus, said lens means converging the radiation in the three paths at different convergence angles, the distance between said lens means and each of the detectors being substantially equal, one of said detectors providing an electrical signal corresponding to the recorded information, while the other detectors provide electrical focus detection signals.