Patent ID: 8531596

Claim:
A camera apparatus comprising: a first housing including a lens section provided with: a lens which directs external light toward a light-receiving surface of a solid-state image sensing device; and a lens holder which holds the lens inside; a second housing including an image pickup section provided with: the solid-state image sensing device; and a transparent cover section which is provided (i) so as to face the light-receiving surface and (ii) so as to have a gap between the solid-state image sensing device and the transparent cover section; and a connecting section which connects the first and second housings; wherein: a bottom surface of the lens holder is exposed in the first housing; the transparent cover section is exposed in the second housing; a focal length is specified by a contact between the bottom surface of the lens holder and a top surface of the transparent cover section during image pickup; the second housing includes a buffering member on its surface which faces the first housing; the buffering member and the first housing are brought into contact with each other during image pickup; and the buffering member is made of a light blocking material such that light that enters into the solid-state image sensing device from an outside of the camera apparatus and which is unnecessary for image pickup is blocked: and wherein: the connecting section rotatably or slidably connects the first and second housings; image pickup is carried out while the first and second housings are overlapping each other; the focal length is specified while the first and second housings are overlapping each other; the image pickup section includes a sealing section, which seals, with a resin, the transparent cover section so that the top surface of the transparent cover section is exposed in the sealing section; a bottom part of the lens holder projects from the first housing toward the second housing, parts of the transparent cover section and the sealing section project from the second housing toward the first housing, and the transparent cover section projects more toward the first housing than the sealing section; and during image pickup a projecting part of the lens holder is fit to an outer circumferential part of the transparent cover section while the bottom surface of the lens holder and the top surface of the transparent cover section are in contact with each other, whereby (i) optical axes of the lens and the solid-state sensing device coincide with each other and (ii) displacement between the first and second housings in surface directions is prevented.