Patent ID: 8023200

Claim:
An imaging apparatus comprising a lens barrel, with a first frame and a second frame that is capable of moving relative to the first frame, that is capable of forming a subject image by focusing incident light, the imaging apparatus comprising: a cam groove that is formed in the first frame and includes at least a first region and a second region that have different widths, and a cam follower that is formed in the second frame and inserted movably in the cam groove at least in the first region and the second region, wherein the cam follower is formed to have a shape with a plurality of outer diameters, and different parts of the cam follower contact an inner lateral surface of the cam groove depending on whether the cam follower is in the first region or in the second region, when the cam follower moves along the second region of the cam groove, the imaging apparatus is capable of capturing images, while when the cam follower moves along the first region of the cam groove, the imaging apparatus is not used for capturing images, and an inclination angle of a lateral surface of the cam groove in the first region is larger than an inclination angle of a lateral surface of the cam groove in the second region.