Patent ID: 8508871

Claim:
A lens barrel comprising: a lens holding member that holds a lens; a guide bar that includes a magnet in at least a portion thereof and that is oriented in a direction of an optical axis of the lens to guide the lens holding member to move in the direction of the optical axis; and a control portion that is disposed on the lens holding member, and that includes a non-magnetic contact surface that contacts a portion of an outer circumferential surface of the guide bar and a magnetic body generating magnetic force between itself and the magnet of the guide bar arranged at a position further from the guide bar than the contact surface, wherein a cross section of the guide bar in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis is substantially circular, and an N pole and an S pole of the magnet are present in the cross section of the guide bar such that, on a surface of the magnet, the one of the N pole and the S pole that is further from the magnetic body occupies a larger portion of the circumference of the cross section than the other of the N pole and the S pole.