An optical instrument system comprising an endoscopic instrument, the endoscopic instrument including: an instrument shaft having a distal end portion and a longitudinal axis spanning distal and proximal sides of the distal end portion; an optical channel assembly including an objective lens with negative optical power positioned in the distal end portion to receive image light from an object space via a single optical channel path and pass the image light toward the proximal side; at least first and second image sensors (214, 216) positioned in the instrument shaft distal end portion, the first image sensor positioned to receive a first portion, but not all, of the image light corresponding to a first area of an optical image via the single optical channel path, and the second sensor positioned to receive a second portion of the image light corresponding to a second area of the optical image via the single optical channel path, wherein the images on the first and second image sensors (214, 216) at least substantially overlap; a first light directing element positioned in an image space of the optical channel assembly to receive the first portion of the image light from the optical channel assembly and direct it toward the first image sensor along an optical axis that is non-parallel to the longitudinal axis; and a processing unit operatively coupled to the first and second image sensors (214, 216) to receive first and second image data from the sensors (214, 216) and operable to combine images from the first and second image data into a displayed image of higher resolution than that possible with the first sensor alone or the second sensor alone, wherein the first image sensor is positioned such that the light directed toward the first image sensor by the first light directing element is imaged onto the first image sensor characterised in that the second area is different from the first area. an instrument shaft having a distal end portion and a longitudinal axis spanning distal and proximal sides of the distal end portion; an optical channel assembly including an objective lens with negative optical power positioned in the distal end portion to receive image light from an object space via a single optical channel path and pass the image light toward the proximal side; at least first and second image sensors (214, 216) positioned in the instrument shaft distal end portion, the first image sensor positioned to receive a first portion, but not all, of the image light corresponding to a first area of an optical image via the single optical channel path, and the second sensor positioned to receive a second portion of the image light corresponding to a second area of the optical image via the single optical channel path, wherein the images on the first and second image sensors (214, 216) at least substantially overlap; a first light directing element positioned in an image space of the optical channel assembly to receive the first portion of the image light from the optical channel assembly and direct it toward the first image sensor along an optical axis that is non-parallel to the longitudinal axis; and a processing unit operatively coupled to the first and second image sensors (214, 216) to receive first and second image data from the sensors (214, 216) and operable to combine images from the first and second image data into a displayed image of higher resolution than that possible with the first sensor alone or the second sensor alone, wherein the first image sensor is positioned such that the light directed toward the first image sensor by the first light directing element is imaged onto the first image sensor characterised in that the second area is different from the first area.