Patent ID: 8767068

Claim:
A distance measuring apparatus for determining the distance to an object of range finding based on the amount of parallax between multiple images, the distance measuring apparatus comprising: a number of simple lenses in substantially the same shape, on which light that has come from the object of range finding is incident; and an image capturing section, which has a number of image capturing areas, each facing an associated one of the simple lenses, and which captures images of the object of range finding that have been produced by the respective simple lenses on their associated image capturing areas, wherein lens surfaces of each said lens that are opposed to the object of range finding and the image capturing section, respectively, are only aspheric refracting surfaces, wherein in each of the simple lenses, the lens surface that is opposed to the image capture section is convex toward the image capture section, and wherein in each of the simple lenses, the paraxial radii of curvature R 1 and R 2 of the lens surfaces that are opposed to the object of range finding and the image capturing section, respectively, and its focus length f satisfy a condition −2.0≦f(1/R 1 +1/R 2 )≦−0.85.