Patent ID: 7382553

Claim:
A lens barrel, comprising: a telescopic cylinder configured to be accommodated within a fixed cylinder; a plurality of lenses configured to be retained in the telescopic cylinder; a plurality of lens retaining frames, each lens retaining frame configured to retain at least one lens in the plurality of lenses; a lens driving device configured to drive the plurality of lens retaining frames so as to drive the plurality of lenses along a longitudinal axis of the telescopic cylinder; at least one retractable lens configured to be retracted into the fixed cylinder through an opening in a wall of the fixed cylinder when the telescopic cylinder is extended out of the fixed cylinder; and a retractable lens retaining frame configured to retain the at least one retractable lens, wherein the lens driving device is configured to drive the retractable lens retaining frame so that the retractable lens is retracted onto an optical axis of the lenses when the telescopic cylinder is extended out of the fixed cylinder, wherein the lens driving device includes a female screw member disposed to move in a direction of the optical axis of the lenses, wherein a cam mechanism is provided between the retractable lens retaining frame and the female screw member to drive the retractable lens retaining frame depending on movement of the female screw member so that the at least one retractable lens is moved along the optical axial direction and between a position on the optical axis of the lenses and a retracted position away from the position on the optical axis, and wherein the cam mechanism includes a cam portion provided on the retractable lens retaining frame, and an abutting portion provided on the female screw member to engage with the cam portion.