A method for ultrasonic imaging with an array transducer (10, 104) comprising: - translating an aperture which is less than the number of elements of the array across a plurality of aperture locations (A1, A2) of the array transducer (10, 104); - at each of the plurality of aperture locations (A1, A2), in a transmit-receive cycle: transmitting a transmit beam which is focused either behind the array transducer (10, 104) and a region of interest (ROI1, ROI2) in an image field corresponding to the transmit beam or beyond the array transducer and the region of interest in the image field corresponding to the transmit beam; and, in response to each transmit beam, receiving at the aperture a plurality of echo signals which are processed to produce a plurality of simultaneous multiline scanlines (22, 24, 26) of coherent echo signals; - characterised in that the method further comprises: at an aperture location (An) at an end of the array transducer (10, 104), in each of a succession of transmit-receive cycles, transmitting a transmit beam which is focused either behind the array transducer (10, 104) and a region of interest (ROIn 1, ROIn 2, ROIn 3) in the image field corresponding to the transmit beam or beyond the array transducer (10, 104) and the region of interest in the image field corresponding to the transmit beam, and receiving in response to each transmit beam of the succession of transmit-receive cycles a plurality of echo signals which are processed to produce a plurality of simultaneous multiline scanlines (22, 24, 26; 22', 24', 26'; 22", 24", 26") of coherent echo signals, wherein the transmit beams transmitted successively from the aperture location (An) at the end of the array transducer (10, 104) have different angles relative to the array transducer (10, 104) and different focal point (F1, F2, F3) locations translated along the direction of the array transducer (10, 104). - translating an aperture which is less than the number of elements of the array across a plurality of aperture locations (A1, A2) of the array transducer (10, 104); - at each of the plurality of aperture locations (A1, A2), in a transmit-receive cycle: transmitting a transmit beam which is focused either behind the array transducer (10, 104) and a region of interest (ROI1, ROI2) in an image field corresponding to the transmit beam or beyond the array transducer and the region of interest in the image field corresponding to the transmit beam; and, in response to each transmit beam, receiving at the aperture a plurality of echo signals which are processed to produce a plurality of simultaneous multiline scanlines (22, 24, 26) of coherent echo signals; transmitting a transmit beam which is focused either behind the array transducer (10, 104) and a region of interest (ROI1, ROI2) in an image field corresponding to the transmit beam or beyond the array transducer and the region of interest in the image field corresponding to the transmit beam; and, in response to each transmit beam, receiving at the aperture a plurality of echo signals which are processed to produce a plurality of simultaneous multiline scanlines (22, 24, 26) of coherent echo signals; - characterised in that the method further comprises: at an aperture location (An) at an end of the array transducer (10, 104), in each of a succession of transmit-receive cycles, transmitting a transmit beam which is focused either behind the array transducer (10, 104) and a region of interest (ROIn 1, ROIn 2, ROIn 3) in the image field corresponding to the transmit beam or beyond the array transducer (10, 104) and the region of interest in the image field corresponding to the transmit beam, and receiving in response to each transmit beam of the succession of transmit-receive cycles a plurality of echo signals which are processed to produce a plurality of simultaneous multiline scanlines (22, 24, 26; 22', 24', 26'; 22", 24", 26") of coherent echo signals, wherein the transmit beams transmitted successively from the aperture location (An) at the end of the array transducer (10, 104) have different angles relative to the array transducer (10, 104) and different focal point (F1, F2, F3) locations translated along the direction of the array transducer (10, 104).