1. A method for the analysis of oils and technical service fluids and for the qualified evaluation of the operating states of units, wherein a drop of a fluid to be examined is applied to a test medium, is allowed to penetrate into the test medium and is assessed after a preselected time by a resulting test image being optically compared with data of a plurality of reference images according to a plurality of test criteria, comprising the following method steps: recording and storage of the data of a plurality of series of reference images for different test criteria and assignment of the reference images to specific properties of the fluids to be examined and operating states of units, recording and storage of the test image of the drop that forms on the test medium using an image recording apparatus at least in a front light recording and a back light recording, computer-aided comparison of the data of the test images with the data of the reference images and assignment of the data of one or a plurality of images from the front light and the back light recording to the reference images for a respective test criterion which has the greatest correspondence, and display and/or logging of the properties of the fluid to be examined and/or of an operating state of the unit which correspond to the assigned data of the reference images.