A particle size distribution measuring apparatus includes a source of laser light for providing a laser beam to a sample cell that can hold a sample to be measured. A condenser lens converges the laser beam towards the sample cell along an optical axis. The position on the other side of the sample cell is a ring detector unit that can be aligned with the optical axis to measure light intensity at relatively small scattering angles from contact with particles in the sample cell. An array of detectors can be operatively positioned on a substrate with appropriate amplifying multiplying and analog to digital conversion capacity for measuring light intensity at relatively large scatter angles. The outputs of the ring detector unit and the array of detectors can be used to determine the particle size distribution of particles in the sample.