Patent ID: 7158318

Claim:
A taking lens unit comprising: a lens barrel; plural lens elements contained in said lens barrel; and a flare stopper disposed between said lens elements so that light that passes through at least one of the plural lens elements falls on the flare stopper, an inner periphery of the flare stopper defining a circular opening to pass incident light upon said taking lens unit, said flare stopper comprising a sheet material having an overall shape defined by first and second sections; wherein the first section of the sheet material has a shape of a planar ring, and the second section of the sheet material has a shape of a side face of a circular truncated cone, with an outermost portion of the second section meeting an innermost portion of the first section; wherein an innermost portion of the second section defines said circular inner periphery; wherein said sheet material comprises Mylar (trade name) film and the overall shape of the flare stopper is produced by sheet metal stamping; and wherein the flare stopper and one of the lens elements are arranged so that one of said lens elements presses and deforms said flare stopper so that said inner periphery is inclined with respect to said optical axis of said taking lens unit.