The non-destructive and phase selective determination of residual stresses caused by material processing (such as welding) in polycrystalline samples is usually performed by diffraction methods. In order to obtain information about stress fields at high spatial resolution with conventional methods, for example with micro beam techniques, the sample needs to be scanned in a very time consuming manner. A much faster method is the simultaneous investigation of a larger area using position sensitive diffractometry. This method was used for the analysis of the residual stress distribution in laser beam welded thin (2 mm and 3 mm) magnesium sheets.