Patent ID: 6914636

Claim:
An optical viewer instrument with a photographing function, comprising: a telescopic optical system for observing an object, said telescopic optical system including a first part and a second part which are relatively and translationally movable with respect to each other; a digital camera system including a photographing optical system and an image sensor associated with each other such that the object is formed as a photographic image on a light-receiving surface of said image sensor through said photographing optical system; a casing that houses said telescopic optical system and said digital camera system; a manually-operable rotary wheel rotatably provided in said casing such that a portion of said manually-operable rotary wheel is exposed to the outside through an opening formed in said casing; a focussing mechanism associated with said telescopic optical system such that a rotational movement of said manually-operable rotary wheel is converted into a relatively-translational movement between the first and second parts of said telescopic optical system to bring the object into focus through the telescopic optical system; and a display panel unit for displaying the object to be photographed by said digital camera system on a display screen thereof, said display panel unit being mounted on said casing so as to be movable between a retracted position where the display screen of said display panel unit is close to a wall surface of said casing and a display position where the display screen of said display panel unit is directed to a side of an ocular optical system of said telescopic optical system, wherein said manually-operable rotary wheel is arranged such that the exposed portion of said manually-operable rotary wheel is hidden behind said display panel unit when being at said retracted position.